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THE 


EARLY 


NAVAL     HISTORY 


ENGLAND. 


ROBERT  SOUTHEY,  LL.D. 

POET  LAUREATE. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
CAREY,  LEA,  AND  BLANCHARD. 

1835. 


ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL 

TABLE 

OF  THE 

NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 


Paoe 

Object  of  this  Work  19 

INTRODUCTION. 

CHAPTER  I. 

FROM  Cesar's  invasion  to  the  death  of  Alfred. 

Only  Merchants  allowed  to  enter  the  Ports  of  Britain,  and 

the  Ports  only   23 

British  Shif)s  at  the  Time  of  Caesar's  Invasion  ib. 

Their  Fleet  destroyed  in  the  Defeat  of  the  Veneti  24 

Coracles  ib. 

British  Pearls   25 

Dominion  of  the  Seas  acquired  by  the  Possession  of  Britain  ib. 

Seius  Saturniniis,  the  Roman  Admiral 26 

Carausius   i6. 

Acknowledged  as  Emperor  in  Britain    27 

Constantius  builds  a  Alole  across  the  Harbour  of  Gessoriacum, 

near  Boulogne   28 

Carausius  murdered   ib. 

Defeat  and  Death  of  the  Murderer   29 

Coasts  fortified  against  the  Saxons  30 

The  Romans  abandon  Britain   ib. 

Arrival  of  Hengist  and  Horsa  31 

Ofla  builds  Ships,  and  makes  a  commercial  Treaty  with 

Charlemagne   32 

First  Danish  Invasion   ib. 

System  of  Piracy   ib. 

The  Vikingr 33 

Their  Cruelty   34 

Their  Ferocity  35 

The  Berserkic  Madness    36 

Lindisfame  and  VVearmouth  plundered  38 

Egbert   ib. 

His  Struggle  with  the  Danes  39 

Elhelwulph   40 

London  plundered  by  the  Danes   41 

They  winter  here   t6. 

Ethelbald  42 

Ethelbert   43 

Money  first  paid  to  the  Danes  «.  ib. 

The  Danes  penetrate  to  the  Interior  on  Horseback 44 

Ethelred H. 

a2  5 


ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

Page 

Alfred  45 

Alfred  fits  out  a  few  Ships  and  puts  to  Sea  ib. 

He  expels  the  Danes  from  London  and  fortifies  it  46 

Hastings  the  Pirate   ib. 

He  forms  two  Camps  in  Kent   47 

Alfred  pitches  his  Camp  between  them  48 

They  break  up,  and  get  to  the  Isle  of  Mersey  49 

Hastings  fortifies  a  Camp  at  Benfleet   50 

His  Family  and  his  Spoils  captured  there   ib. 

He  marches  to  the  Severn   51 

He  retreats  to  his  Stronghold  at  South  Shobery  -  52 

He  marches  to  Chester    ib. 

He  returtts  to  the  Isle  of  Mersey  53 

He  brings  his  Fleet  into  the  Lea  ib. 

Alfred  confines  it  there  by  digging  new  Channels  ib. 

Hastings  finally  driven  from  England  54 

Shipe  of  the  Northmen,  called  .^cs  ib. 

Alfred  builds  Galleys  to  oppose  them  ib. 

Alfred  the  first  English  King  who  established  a  naval  Force  56 

Bede,  Alfred,  and  Roger  Bacon    57 


CHAPTER  II. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  ALFRED  TO  THE  NORMAN  CONdUEST. 

Edward  the  Elder    58 

He  guards  the  eastern  Coast    ib. 

He  defeats  the  Anglo-Danes  i6. 

918.  Danes  defeated  in  Herefordshire   59 

Again  on  the  Somersetshire  Coast ib. 

938.  Confederacy  against  Athelstan  60 

Battle  of  Brunnaburgh  ib. 

First  Treaty  with  France   61 

939.  First  English  Fleet  equipped  with  relation  to  the  Afiairs  of 

the  Continent  ib. 

Athelstan's  Law  in  honour  of  Commerce  ib. 

Present  of  a  Ship  from  Norway   ib. 

941.  Edward  the  Elder  consents  to  a  Partition  Treaty  with  Aulaf  62 

Eric  the  Fratricide  63 

946.  His  Piracies,  Invasion,  and  Death ib. 

959.  Edgar's  Naval  Force   64 

982.  Ravages  of  the  Danes  immediately  after  his  Death  65 

The  People  corrupted  by  the  Example  of  his  licentious  life.  j4. 

Anglo-Danes  66 

991.  Brithnoth's  Defeat  and  Death  67 

Ethelred  purchases  a  Truce  68 

First  direct  Taxation  tft- 

992.  iElfric's  Treason  ib. 

Early  History  of  Sweyne  69 

He  is  refused  a  Refuge  at  Edgar's  Court «*• 

Vowrs  made  at  his  Father's  Obsequies  JO 

994.  London  successfully  defended  against  him  . . ; il>. 


ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  7 

Page 

A  second  Truce  purchased  71 

Olaf  converted  ib. 

The  Danes  ravage  the  western  Coast ib. 

They  overrun  Kent  72 

They  gain  a  Victory  in  Hampshire 73 

Peace  again  purchased  ib. 

Massacre  of  the  Danes  74 

Sweyne  comes  to  revenge  it  75 

Thetford  burnt  ib. 

More  Money  paid  to  them 76 

Shipi-money  levied  i6. 

Naval  Preparation  frustrated  77 

London  still  well  defended  78 

The  Country  at  their  Mercy ib. 

Canterbury  besieged  79 

Archbishop  Elphege  made  Prisoner  there  80 

The  Danes  put  him  to  Death  82 

Miracles  said  to  have  ensued  ib. 

Danegelt  again  paid  83 

Three  Days  of  Humiliation  t6. 

Sweyne  again  invades  England  84 

He  proceeds  from  the  Humber  without  resistance  to  London    85 

The  Londoners  repulse  him  ib. 

Ethelred  withdraws  from  London  86 

London  then  submits ib. 

Ethelred  flees  to  Normandy  ib. 

The  English  invite  him  back  87 

National  Compact  with  Edmund  his  Son  ib. 

London  Bridge  attacked  by  the  auxiliary  Danes,  from  the 

Water 88 

London  delivered 89 

Money  raised  for  the  Auxiliaries ib. 

Edric  murders  the  Chiefs  of  the  Anglo-Danes  90 

Edmund  marries  the  Widow  of  one  ib. 

Canute  returns  with  a  powerful  Fleet  from  Denmark  91 

Want  of  Authority  and  of  Concert  92 

Ethelred '8  Death  93 

Canute  digs  a  Canal  at  Southwark  for  the  Passage  of  his 

Ships ib. 

Battle  of  Sceorstane ib. 

Edmund  compels  Canute  to  raise  the  siege  of  London  .....  95 

The  English  defeated  by  Treachery  at  Assandun  ib. 

Edmund  and  Canute  divide  the  Kmgdom  96 

Death  of  Edmund  ib. 

Canute  marries  Queen  Emma  97 

Beneficial  Effects  of  his  Conquests  , ib. 

Canute's  Lesson  to  his  Courtiers  S8 

His  great  Power   99 

1035.  Harold  Harefoot  succeeds  ib. 

Canute's  Dominions  divided  100 

1040.  Hardicanute's  Accession |i6. 

Discontent  at  the  Exaction  of  Ship-money  ib. 

Godwin's  Present  of  a  Ship  101 

The  Country  prosperous  ib. 

1042.  Edward  the  Confessor  ib. 

Magnus  claims  the  Succession  ib. 


8  ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

Page 

1047.  Piracy  renewed  102 

Danegelt  abolished   103 

1051.  Godwin  and  his  Sons  exiled   ib. 

1052.  They  ravage  the  Coast  ib. 

They  draw  up  their  Forces  at  London  104 

They  make  their  own  Terms  with  the  King    105 

English  inexpert  Horse  Soldiers  ib. 

1063.  Griffith,  the  Welsh  King,  slain  106 

Apprehensions  excited  by  the  appearance  of  a  Comet 107 

1066.  Harold  takes  the  CrowTi   ib. 

Tostig's  first  Invasion  and  Defeat   108 

Harold  Hardrara's  Preparations  ib. 

Ill  Omens  with  which  his  Expedition  was  undertaken 109 

He  takes  Scarborough   110 

Harold's  Force  collected  on  the  south  Coast  ib. 

Edwin  and  Morcar  defeated  by  Hardrada  ib. 

York  opens  its  Grates  to  him Ill 

Harold  arrives  at  York  ib. 

Tostig advises  a  Retreat  to  the  Ships  ..: 112 

Interview  with  Tostig  113 

Defeat  of  the  Norwegians  114 

Death  of  Hardrada  and  Tostig  ii. 

The  Normans  115 

William's  Armament  116 

Harold  compelled  to  leave  the  Coast  unguarded  117 

St.  Valery  borne  in  proce.ssion  118 

William  sails  for  England  ib. 

He  lands  at  Bulverhithe  ib. 

Battle  of  Hastings  119 

National  Sins  which  then  received  their  Panishment  120 


CHAPTER  III. 

FROM  THE  xNORMAN  CONQUEST  TO  THE  ACCESSION  OF  KING  JOHN. 

William  in  Danger  from  the  North   122 

The  Sons  of  Harold  invade  England  from  Ireland  ib. 

1068.  They  are  defeated,  and  repair  to  Denmark  123 

William  endeavours  to  counteract  their  Application  ib 

The  Danes  invade  England  ib. 

York  burnt  124 

1069.  Defeat  of  the  Normans  there   ib. 

William  lays  Northumbria  waste  125 

1070.  He  makes  Terms  with  the  Danes   ib. 

Interview  between  the  Kings  of  Denmark  and  Norway  ....  ib. 

Northern  Armament 126 

It  is  broken  up ib. 

Danegelt  revived  ib. 

Mercenaries  employed  by  William ,. 127 

William  Rufus  permits  has  Subjects  to  fit  out  Cruisers ib. 

He  embarks  in  a  Storm 128 

1120.  Shipwreck  of  Prince  Henry  129 

Laws  relating  to  Wrecks  131 

Growth  of  Commerce  132 

Jews  in  England 133 


ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  9 

Paob 
Commercial  Prosj)erity  133 

1121.  The  Foss  Dyke  cut  134 

Miserable  State  of  England  under  King  Stephen ib. 

1155.  Henry  II.  expels  the  Aliens  135 

He  feels  the  want  of  a  Naval  Force  ib. 

Irish  Piracy  one  Motive  for  the  Conquest  of  Ireland  136 

Henry  II.  and  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  ib. 

1189.  He  prepares  for  a  Crusade  and  dies   138 

Richard  Coeur  de  Lion's  Fleet  ib. 

Laws  for  the  Punishment  of  Offences  in  the  Fleet 139 

The  Fleet  dispersed  by  Storms  ib. 

One  Ship  broken  up  at  Sylves  140 

Others  put  into  the  Tagus  ib. 

Transactions  with  the  Portuguese   ib. 

Richard  embarks  nt  Genoa  141 

He  puts  into  the  Tiber  ib. 

His  Dispute  with  a  Peasant,  and  consequent  Danger  142 

Richard  reaches  Messina  ib. 

His  Claims  on  the  King  of  Sicily  in  behalf  of  his  Sister,  the 

Dowager  Queen  143 

He  takes  possession  of  a  Fortress  and  Monastery  ib. 

Messina  stormed  by  the  English  144 

Laws  for  the  Crusaders  145 

Agreement  with  the  King  of  Sicily  146 

Jealousy  between  the  Kings  of  England  and  France  1 47 

Law  of  Shipwrecks  improved 148 

Richard's  Fit  of  Contrition  ib. 

His  Interview  with  the  Abbot  Joachim   149 

Philip's  supposed  Letter  to  Tancred  150 

Explanation  between  the  two  Kings ib. 

Berengaria  arrives  at  Messina  151 

Richard  sails  from  Sicily  152 

His  Fleet  dispersed  ib. 

Conduct  of  the  Ruler  of  Cyprus  153 

Richard  lands  in  Cyprus  ib. 

He  enters  the  Capital  154 

Isaac's  Submission  and  Elscape  155 

Conquest  of  the  Island  U>- 

Fate  of  Isaac  156 

Cyprus  given  to  Guy  de  Lusignan  ib. 

Action  v^th  a  great  Saracen  Ship 157 

Greek  Fire  158 

Naval  Action  159 

Event  of  Richard's  Crusade  160 

Pliilip  Augustus  thinks  of  invading  England  161 

He  seeks  a  Danish  Princess  in  Marriage  ib. 

His  Claim  upon  the  Throne  of  England  ib. 

History  of  that  Marriage  162 

1 1 96.  Richard  punishes  the  English  who  supplied  the  Enemy's  Anny  164 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OP  KINO  JOHN,  TO  THl  BATTLE  OF  SLUTS- 

Friar  Bacon's  Brazen  Head  165 

Feudal  Principle  upon  which  Fleets  were  raised t6. 


10  ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

Page 

1200.  John  asserts  the  Dominion  of  the  Seas  166 

Story  of  an  amphibious  Man  iJ. 

1213.  John  prevented  by  his  Nobles  from  attempting  to  recover 

Normandy  167 

1213.  Philip  Augustus  threatens  to  invade  England  168 

The  Invasion  jjrevented  by  John's  submission  to  the  Pope  . .     ib. 

Philip  invades  Flanders  169 

He  sends  his  Fleet  to  Damme  ih. 

History  of  that  Port  ib. 

The  French  receive  Money  from  the  Inhabitants  under  Pro- 
mise of  respecting  their  Property,  and  then  plunder  them  170 
Battle  of  Damme,  bemg  the  first  naval  Victory  of  the  Eng- 
lish over  the  French   171 

Defeat  of  the  English  on  Shore   172 

Philip  burns  the  Remainder  of  the  Fleet  i6. 

Damme  burnt  by  the  French  ib. 

John  on  the  Isle  of  Wight , 173 

1215.  Fleet  of  Mercenaries  wrecked   ib. 

Eustace  the  Monk  174 

1218.  His  fleet,  coming  with  Reinforcements  to  Louis,  is  defeated 

by  Hubert  de  Burgh  ib. 

Remarkable  Instance  of  individual  Gratitude  for  a  national 

Service   175 

Ship  seen  in  the  Air  176 

Fleet  on  the  Coast  from  some  unknown  Land ib. 

1238.  Attempt  to  murder  Henry  III 177 

The  Person  charged  with  this  Treason  gets  possession  of 

Lundy  Island,  and  pirates  from  thence  178 

1242.  He  is  taken  and  put  to  Death  ib. 

Piracies  by  the  Ships  of  the  Cinque-ports  ib. 

1266.  Ed  ward  I.  compromises  with  those  Ports  179 

Agreement  that  the  Flemings  might  trade  with  England, 

though  their  Earl  was  bound  to  serve  the  King  of  I  ranee  180 

Edward's  return  from  the  Holy  Land  181 

1282.  He  occupies  Anglesea  182 

Bridge  of  Boats  across  the  Menai  ib. 

Defeat  of  the  English  there   183 

Intention  of  constructing  a  Stone  Bridge  there  ib. 

1293.  English  Ships  attacked  by  the  Normans 184 

Retaliations ib. 

Naval  Victory  over  the  French  ib. 

Foreigners  removed  from  the  Coast  on  an  Alarm  of  Invasion  185 

Sir  Thomas  Turberville's  Treason  ib. 

Dover  sacked  186 

Sl  Thomas  of  Dover  ib. 

1297.  Battle  between  the  Yarmouth  and  the  Cinque-ports  Shipe  ..  187 

Misconduct  of  the  English  in  Flanders  ib. 

Marriage  of  Edward  of  Caernarvon 188 

History  of  the  Lady  Philippa ib. 

Consequence  of  Edward  II.'s  Marriage  191 

Sovereignty  of  the  Seas  asserted  by  England,  and  recognised 

by  France  ib. 

English  Shipwrights  engaged  by  the  Spaniards  193 

National  Enmity  between  the  English  and  French ib. 

Outrages  at  Sea  194 

1308.  Spanish  Pirates  at  Southampton  ii. 


ANAITTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE,  11 

Paob 

1310.  The  Flemings  and  the  Scotch  195 

Extraordina^  Request  of  the  King  of  France  concerning 

certain  Spanish  Ships ib. 

1315.  A  Navy  raised 196 

1324.  Affray  with  the  Venetians  at  Southampton  ib. 

Rigorous  Measures  against  the  French  in  England  ib. 

1327.  Peace  with  France  198 

Decay  of  naval  Strength  under  Edward  II ib. 

Edward  III.'s  Title  to  the  Crown  of  France   ib. 

Homage  required  from  him  for  his  Possessions  in  France  ..     ib. 

1328.  His  secret  Protest  199 

Preparations  for  the  Ceremony  on  the  Part  of  France ib. 

Edward  demurs  at  a  Part  of  tlie  Homage  201 

Supposed  Intention  of  detaining  him ib. 

The  French  Demand  proved  to  be  well  founded  202 

Edward  evades  acknowledging  this  to  its  full  Extent ib. 

France  foments  the  War  in  Scotland 203 

1336.  A  Fleet  commissioned  204 

Instructions  to  the  Admirals  ib. 

Ships  could  not  be  fitted  out  for  War  at  Bristol  205 

The  Cinque-ports  and  Yarmouth  bound  to  keep  the  Peace 

towards  each  other  ib. 

The  Scotch  seek  to  procure  Vessels  from  the  Mediterranean 

and  from  Norway  Si. 

Edward  procures  Ship  from  Genoa  206 

1337.  Covert  Hostilities  of  the  French  ib. 

Thev  occupy  the  Isle  of  Cadsant t6. 

A  Fleet  sent  against  them  ib. 

Cadsant  207 

Defeat  of  the  French  and  Flemings  there 208 

A  Crusade  proposed   209 

Discontent  in  England  at  the  Costs  of  the  War  210 

The  People  on  the  South  Coast  refuse  to  pay  the  Imposts  for 

its  Defence   ib. 

Precautions  against  Invasion  ib. 

1339.  Portsmouth  burnt ib. 

London  fortified   ib. 

Capture  of  the  Edward  and  the  Christopher 211 

Plymouth  burnt  t6. 

Defeat  of  the  Enemy  there  tJ. 

Southampton  sacked  212 

Exploit  of  a  Thresher  ib. 

Inhabitants  of  that  Town  forbidden  to  leave  it ib. 

Defence  of  the  Coast  ib. 

Boat  Expedition  from  the  Cinque-ports  to  Boulogne  214 

Ships  in  the  Harbour  there  burnt ib- 

Edward's  resentment  of  the  Cruelties  committed  upon  his 

Subjects  2l5 

Speech  of  a  Cardinal  to  him  ib. 

1340.  Philip's  Intention  to  put  two  English  Noblemen  to  Death  . .     ib. 

The  King  of  Bohemia  dissuades  him   ib. 

Edward  sails  from  Ipswich 217 

French  Fleet  discovered  in  the  Zwijn  ib. 

Sluys ib. 

BattleofSluys   219 

Tlie  Christopher  retaken  220 


12  ANALYTICAL  AND  CHROXOLOOICAL  TABLE. 

Paoe 

Great  Victory  of  the  English 221 

Edward's  Letter  to  the  Clergy,  being  the  first  Despatch  an- 
nouncing a  naval  Victory   222 

Philip  informed  of  the  Defeat  by  a  Court  Fool 223 


CHAPTER  V. 

FROM  THE  BATTLE  OF  SLUY8  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  EDWARD  HI. 

Edward  returns  thanks  for  his  Victory 224 

He  is  distressed  for  Money   225 

The  Pope's  Representation  to  him   ib. 

A  Truce  brought  about  by  the  Lady  Jeanne  de  Valois  . . . . :  226 
Edward's  Difficulties  for  Money  227 

1341.  He  returns  to  England   228 

The  bad  Weather  in  his  Voyage  imputed  to  French  Necro- 
mancers       ib. 

English  Coasts  infested   ib. 

League  between  the  Cinque-ports  and  Bayonne  ib. 

A  naval  Assembly  convened  229 

Dispute  with  Genoa  ib. 

1342.  Portsmouth  burnt  230 

War  concerning  the  Succession  in  Bretagne  ib. 

John  of  Montford  taken  Prisoner  ilj. 

His  Countess  besieged  in  Hennebon  231 

She  cuts  her  Way  through  the  Besiegers   ib. 

And  returns  with  a  small  Reinforcement  232 

The  town  battered  from  twelve  great  Engines  ib. 

The  Bishop  of  St.  Pol  de  Leon  proposes  to  surrender  ib. 

The  English  Succours  arrive  under  Sir  Walter  Manny 233 

They  sally  and  destroy  the  great  Engine   234 

Don  Luis  d'Espana  235 

He  i^kes  and  garrisons  Comper  ib. 

Sir  Walter  Manny  retakes  it  236 

Dinant  taken  by  Don  Luis  ib. 

His  Cruelty  at  Guerande  ib. 

Sir  Walter  captures  his  Ships  there   237 

Don  Luis  defeated,  and  his  Nephew  slain   238 

Sir  Walter  makes  an  Attempt  on  Rosteman  Castle  ib. 

Sir  John  Butler  and  Sir  Matthew  Trelawny  made  Prison- 
ers there   239 

Sir  Walter  takes  Gony  in  the  Forest  ib. 

Hennebon  again  besieged   240 

Don  Luis  returns  to  the  Camp   ib. 

He  asks  the  two  Prisoners  as  a  Boon,  with  the  Intent  of  put- 
ting them  to  Death  241 

Sir  Walter  Manny  rescues  them   242 

The  Siege  raised   244 

A  Truce    ib. 

The  Countess  goes  to  England  ib. 

1343.  She  returns  with  a  Fleet  ib. 

Naval  Action  with  the  Genoese  and  Spaniards  245 

Don  Luis  attacks  the  King's  Fleet  in  a  French  Harbour  —  246 

Truce  for  three  Years  247 

Ed  ward  driven  to  the  Coast  of  Spain  ib. 

France  obtains  Ships  from  Genoa  ib. 


ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  13 

Paob 

Another  naval  Council  convoked   248 

1344.  Clisson  put  to  Death  by  the  French  King ib. 

Edward  considers  this  a  Breach  of  the  Truce  249 

He  sends  a  Defiance  to  Philip  230 

Death  of  Sir  Henry  de  Leon  251 

Don  Luis  created  Prince  of  the  Fortunate  Islands  by  the  Pope    ib. 

Under  that  Pretext  he  raises  Forces  against  England  ib. 

The  English  Ambassadors  at  Avignon  discover  this  ib. 

1348.  John  de  Montford  dies  252 

1346.  Statutes  against  those  who  publish  false  News  ib. 

The  Dominicans  required  to  instruct  the  People  concerning 

the  Grounds  of  the  War  253 

Precautions  for  the  Defence  of  the  Coast 254 

Edward  embarks  for  France  255 

He  declares  his  Intention  of  sending  back  his  Navy  ib. 

They  make  for  Gascony,  and  are  twice  driven  back ib. 

The  Lord  of  Harcourt  persuades  him  to  land  in  Normandy  .     ib. 

Omen  when  he  leapt  on  Shore  256 

Battle  of  Cressy  257 

Calais  besieged  ib. 

1347.  Attempts  to  relieve  it  by  Sea   258 

Daring  Service  of  two  French  Seamen  259 

Calais  taken  ib. 

Edward  in  Danger  of  Shipwreck ib. 

Long  Truce  ■. ib. 

Edward  at  the  Height  of  his  Glory  260 

Prosperity  of  the  Kingdom  ib. 

Ill-founded  and  therefore  unstable  261 

1348.  The  great  Pestilence  ib. 

The  Pope  mediates  between  the  two  Kings  262 

Conferences  for  Peace  i6. 

Death  of  King  Philip  263 

Truce  prolonged   ib. 

Don  Carlos  de  la  Cerda  inherits  his  Father's  Hatred  of  the 

English   ib. 

1350.  Ho  infests  the  Coast  with  a  Spanish  Fleet ib. 

Edward  and  the  Black  Prince  embark  to  give  the  Spaniards 

Battle 265 

The  Victory  interrupted  by  the  Night  ib. 

Sir  John  Goldesborough  slain  266 

Fourscore  Knights  made  after  the  Action ib. 

Peace  with  the  Spaniards   ib. 

1351.  Ships  burnt  at  Boulogne  and  in  the  inland  Ports  ib. 

1352.  Isle  of  Wight  threatened 267 

Many  persons  leave  Winchester  to  avoid  the  Charges  for 

local  Defence   ib. 

1356.  Battle  of  Poictiers ib. 

1357.  Preparations  for  rescuing  the  captured  King  on  his  Way  to 

England   ". ib. 

The  Pope  demands  the  Arrears  of  King  John's  Tribute  . . .  268 
Scotch  Pirates  driven  by  Storms  into  Yarmouth,  and  there 

taken   ib. 

Edward  chooses  his  Burial  Place   269 

(-amp  Mills  in  the  English  Army   ib. 

Leatnem  Boats  also   ib. 

1 360.  The  Count  of  St.  Pol  ravages  tlie  Coast  of  Sussex  ib. 

B 


14  ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE, 

Paok 

The  Clergy  required  to  take  Arms  270 

London  fits  out  eighty  Sail   ib. 

Edward  offers  Battle  before  Paris   t6. 

Peace  proposed  by  the  f'rench  271 

Thunder-storm  at  Chartres,  by  which  the  English  Army  suffer 
great  loss  ib. 

Peace  concluded  ib. 

1362.  The  Duke  of  Anjou  breaks  his  Parole  272 

1364.  The  French  King  goes  to  England,  and  dies  there   273 

English  Language  introduced  into  our  Courts  and  Schools  . .    ib. 
1371.Capture  of  a  Flemish  Fleet   274 

The  Flemish  Towns  make  Peace  without  the  Consent  of  the 

Earl 275 

Edward's  Reverse  of  Fortune   276 

1372.  The  Earl  of  Pembroke  sent  with  a  Fleet  to  Rochelle 277 

Action  with  the  Spaniards  off  that  Port,  and  total  defeat  of 

the  English  ib. 

Treatment  of  the  Prisoners  280 

Du  Guesclin  besieges  Thouars  ib. 

Edward  and  the  Black  Prince  embark  for  its  Relief 281 

The  Weather  prevents  them  from  landing  before  the  Day 

appointed  for  its  Surrender  282 

1373.  Ships  burnt  at  St.  Maloes  ib. 

Latter  Days  of  Ed  ward  III 283 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  EDWARD  III.  TO  THE  ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  IV. 

The  Noble  coined  in  honour  of  a  naval  Victory  284 

Edward's  Care  for  the  Seas ib. 

Foreign  Merchants  encouraged  to  the  Injury  of  our  naval 

Strength   ib. 

1381.  First  Navigation  Act  285 

1382.  Modification  of  this  Act 286 

Respect  made  to  the  Memory  of  Edward  by  the  French 

King  ib. 

1377.Rvebumt  tb. 

The  south  Coast  ravaged  by  the  French  and  Spaniards ib. 

Complaint  in  Parliament  that  the  Kingdom  is  in  Danger  . . .  287 

A  Fleet  sent  out   288 

1378.  Scotch  Sea-rovers  under  John  Mercer  ib. 

John  Philpot,  a  London  Alderman,  sends  out  a  Squadron, 

and  captures  them.    Maritime  Defence  of  the  Realm 

intrusted  for  one  Year  to  John  of  Gaunt  ib- 

Sir  Peter  Courtenay  taken  Prisoner   289 

1379.  Sir  John  Clarke  slain 290 

Sir  Hugh  Calverly  and  Sir  Thomas  Percy,  Admirals  291 

Shijiwreck  of  Sir  John  Arundel 2^2 

Olivier  de  Clisson  infests  the  southern  and  western  Coasts  ..  294 

Enemy's  Ships  taken  in  Kinsale  Harbour ib. 

Portsrhotith  and  other  Places  burnt  by  the  French  and  Spa- 
niards       ib. 

They  enter  the  Thames,  and  bum  Gravesend it- 
Distress  and  discontent  of  the  People 295 

Accounts  laid  before  Parliament ib. 


ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  15 

Page 

1381.  The  Commons  petition  for  Peace 296 

The  Cincfue-ports  send  forth  Siiips ib. 

1384.  Prizes  taken  in  the  Seine 297 

Portuguese  Galleys  sent  to  aid  the  English 298 

1385.  The  French  Admiral  in  Scotland  ib. 

Cadsant  ravaged  by  the  English 299 

Sluys  occupied  by  the  French  ib. 

Frans  Ackerman  surprises  Damme  300 

Gantese  and  English  garrison  it  ib. 

The  King  of  France  besieges  it  301 

Siege  of  Damme ib. 

Ackerman  and  the  Troops  escape  302 

The  Place  taken  ; ib. 

Many  of  the  French  Fleet  wrecked  or  captured  303 

Invasion  of  England  proposed   ib. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy  exchanges  Bethune  for  Sluys 304 

He  fortifies  Sluys   t6. 

1386.  The  Invasion  is  resolved  on 305 

Fleet  collected  at  Sluys 306 

Prei^arations  for  the  French  Armada  ib. 

Portable  Intreiichment  308 

Calais  provided  against  an  Attack  309 

John  of  Gaunt  refuses  to  return  from  Spain ib^ 

Preparation  for  Defence 310 

Proposal  to  remove  the  Shrine  of  Thomas  a  Becket  for  Se- 
curity    313 

The  King  of  Armenia  comes  to  England  as  a  Mediator  ....     ib. 

The  King  proposes  to  invade  France   315 

The  Commons  impeach  the  Chancellor  ib. 

Their  Remonstrance  to  the  King 316 

The  King  of  Armenia  disregarded  by  the  French 318 

Delay  of  the  French  Armada  ib. 

Partof  the  Portable  Intrenchment  captured  319 

The  Armada  sails,  and  is  driven  back 320 

Enmity  of  the  Flemings  towards   the  French   ib. 

The  Expedition  is  abandoned  by  the  Duke  of  Berry's  advice  322 

Government  vested  in  a  Council  of  Fourteen 323 

Disbandmcnt  of  the  English  Force 324 

1387.  The  Earl  of  Arundel  sent  out  with  a  Fleet  ib. 

Peter  Vanden  Bosch  goes  out  in  this  Fleet 325 

Action  with  the  Flemish  Fleet  from  Rochelle 326 

The  English  waste  the  Coast  and  return 328 

Disposal  of  the  Wine ib. 

Hotspur  sent  to  Sea  329 

Invasion  intended  in  the  Spring  330 

The  Armament  ready  in  the  Ports  of  Bretagne ib. 

Jean  de  Bretagne  a  hostage  in  England 331 

Montfort's  ill  Conduct  towards  the  English  ib. 

He  is  bound  to  ransom  Jean  de  Bretagne 332 

This  he  refuses  to  do  ib. 

Clisson  ransoms  him  333 

Enmity  of  Montfort  towards  Clisson  334 

He  summons  a  Council  at  Vannes   ib. 

Clisson  invited  to  his  Castle,  and  there  treacherously  seized  335 

Indignation  of  the  People 336 

Clisson  threatened  with  Death  337 


16     ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

Pask 
He  is  released  upon  Payment  of  a  Ransom,  and  the  Surren- 
der of  certain  Places  339 

The  Armament  against  England  broken  up  in  consequence 

of  this  Affair  ib- 

Clisson  complains  to  the  King,  and  resigns  the  Office  of  Con- 
stable       ib. 

Gelderland  defies  France   340 

EngUsh  desirous  of  an  active  War   ib. 

Temporizing  Policy  of  the  French  Government 342 

Montfort's  Perplexity   ib. 

He  applies  for  Aid  to  England 343 

An  Expedition  sent  to  co-operate  with  him  ib. 

Montfort  is  advised  to  submit  344 

He  yields  and  restores  the  Places  ; 345 

He  goes  to  Blois  to  meet  the  royal  Dukes ib. 

They  compel  him  to  proceed  to  Paris  346 

He  performs  Homage   347 

He  IS  detained  at  Paris  till  all  Danger  from  the  English  is 

over  ib. 

Purport  of  the  English  Expedition  frustrated  by  this  Trans- 
action    348 

The  English  proceed  towards  Rechelle   349 

They  land  at  Marant  350 

The  Rochellers  attack  them  in  their  Quarters,  and  are  re- 
pulsed with  Loss  351 

The  English  store  themselves  at  leisure,  and  then  re-embark  352 

1393.Truce  of  thirty  Years  354 

1395.  Piracies  wrongly  attributed  to  the  Danes ib. 

TheVitaUans  355 

Disputes  and  Negotiation  with  the  Teutonic  Order  in  Prussia  356 


PREFACE. 


In  this  Naval  History  of  England,  no  more  of  our 

general  history  is  included  than  was  necessary  for  form- 
ing a  connected  narrative,  and  for  tracing  the  causes  and 
consequences  of  those  events  which  are  the  proper  sub- 
ject of  the  work.  After  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  it 
may  best  be  continued  in  a  biographical  form  ;  because 
there  are  then  materials  for  such  biography,  whereby  we 
are  enabled  to  understand  how  much  depended  upon 
the  character  of  individual  commanders.  It  was  not, 
indeed,  till  her  reign  that  the  military  and  naval  services 
began  to  be  considered  as  distinct. 

The  evils  which  maritime  enemies  have  inflicted  upon 
this  country,  and  which  we  in  return  have  inflicted  upon 
others,  may  seem  an  unpromising  and  ungrateful  sub- 
ject. Yet  such  a  history  will  not  be  without  interest, 
while  men  retain  their  admiration  for  the  great,  their 
sympathy  for  the  brave,  and  the  love  of  their  native 
land.  Entertainment,  therefore,  it  may  be  expected  to 
afford ;  and  the  information  which  it  may  convey  must 
be  in  proportion  to  the  research  that  has  been  employed 
in  collecting  it ;  and  a  higher  end  will  be  attained,  if  the 
reader  should  feel  that  the  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
the  ways  of  Providence,  have  been  borne  in  mind  re- 
ligiously throughout. 

Keswick,  Feb.  11,  1833. 

17 

b9 


THE 

NAVAL    HISTORY 

or 

ENGLAND, 

ETC. 


According  to  the  Welsh  Triads,*  the  earliest  name  by 
which  Britain  was  known  was  Clas  Mebddin,  the  sea-defend- 
ed green  spot.  Such  an  appellation  may  seem  to  have  been 
prophetic.  But  the  sea  defends  no  people  who  cannot  defend 
themselves ;  and  it  was  with  this  feeling  that  Wordsworth, 
the  great  poet  of  his  age,  poured  forth  a  lofty  strain,  when, 
looking  from  a  valley  near  Dover  towards  the  coast  of  France, 
and  "  the  span  of  waters"  which  separated  us  from  that  then 
most  formidable  neighbour  (for  it  was  while  Buonaparte  wa« 
in  the  plenitude  of  his  power),  he  said — 

"  Even  so  doth  God  protect  as,  if  we  be 
Virtuous  and  wise  I    Winds  blow,  and  waters  roll. 
Strength  to  the  brave,  and  Power,  and  Deity ; 
Yet  in  themselves  are  nothing  !    One  decree 
Spake  laws  to  them,  and  said,  that  by  the  soul 
Only,  the  nation  shall  be  great  and  free."t 

With  all  the  ports  of  the  continent  in  his  possession, 
and  all  its  navies  at  his  command,  that  narrow  channel  was 
found  impassable  by  the  most  ambitious,  the  most  power- 
ful, the  most  enterprising,  and  the  most  inveterate  enemy 

•  Cambro-Briton,  i.  8. 

taonneta  dedicated  to  Liberty,  part  i.  sonnet  xi. 

19 


20  OBJECT    OF    THIS    WORK. 

with  whom  this  nation  ever  was  engaged  in  war ;  for  Great 
Britain  had  manfully  won  and  victoriously  maintained  the 
dominion  of  the  sea.  It  will  be  neither  an  unworthy  nor  a 
useless  task  for  an  Englishman  who  loves  his  country,  and 
who,  in  doing  his  duty  towards  it  in  his  station,  trusts  that 
he  may  deserve  to  be  held  in  remembrance  by  posterity,  to 
record  the  actions  of  those  brave  men  by  whom  that  domi- 
nion was  acquired :  and  a  series  of  their  lives  ("  wherein," 
to  use  the  words  of  a  wise  and  good  man,*  "  I  intend  to  do 
them  right  with  the  truth  thereof,  and  myself  with  the  free- 
dom") will  be  the  most  coHvenient  form  for  a  compendious 
naval  history  of  England. 

It  is,  however,  no  wish  of  the  writer  that  the  work  he  has 
thus  undertaken  should  be  the  cause  of  inducing  any  hope- 
ful youth,  who  otherwise  might  not  have  been  so  inclined,  to 
enter  the  naval  service ;  the  ways  of  that  service  are  as  little 
ways  of  pleasantness  as  its  paths  are  paths  of  peace ;  and 
rather  would  he  that  tiis  light  hand  should  forget  its  cun- 
ning than  that  his  writings  should  produce  such  an  effect. 
Nevertheless,  as  for  that  profession,  with  all  its  determents 
and  its  moral  dangers,  adventurers  never  will  be  wanting,  so 
long  as,  in  the  order  of  Providence,  such  means  of  nationjJ 
defence  are  needful, — it  is  good  that  they  should  be  provided 
with  a  manual  of  this  kind,  wherein,  as  in  a  chart,  they  may 
discern  what  they  are  to  seek  and  what  to  shun,  by  perceiv- 
ing what  things  in  the  conduct  of  their  predecessors  ought 
to  be  regarded  as  warnings,  and  what  as  examples.  And  as 
every  way  of  life,  from  the  highest  to  the  humblest,  has  its 
besetting  sins,  so,  let  it  be  remembered,  each  may  and  ought 
to  have  its  appropriate  virtues ;  and  those  which  the  seaman 
is  called  upon  to  practise  are  of  a  high  order.  He  lives  in  a 
course  of  privations,  self-denial,  and  strict  obedience,  always 
in  insecurity,  often  in  danger,  not  seldom  in  the  face  of  death. 
Through  such  discipline  no  man  can  pass  unchanged ;  he  must 
be  brutalised  by  it,  or  exalted ;  it  will  either  call  forth  the 

•  Sir  Henry  Wotton.  Parallel  between  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham. 


OBJECT    OF    THIS    WORK,  21 

noble  qualities  of  his  nature,  or  worsen  a  bad  disposition, 
and  harden  an  evil  heart.  The  more  necessary  is  it,  there- 
fore, that  he  should  be  taught  where  to  look  for  examples, 
and  where  for  assistance  and  support :  the  former  are  afforded 
him  by  history,  which  is  always  most  useful  when  it  is  re- 
lated with  most  fidelity  ;  for  the  latter  he  must  look  to  that 
Heavenly  Father  who  has  created  and  preserved  him,  and  in 
His  infinite  mercy  has  given  him  the  means  of  grace. 

Sailors  are  taught  in  their  part  of  our  incomparable  Li- 
turgy to  pray  that  they  may  be  a  safeguard  to  the  sovereign 
and  his  dominions,  and  a  security  to  such  as  pass  on  the  seas 
upon  their  lawful  occasions.  They  are  required,  before  a 
battle,  to  call  upon  the  Lord,  and  entreat  Him  "  who  sitteth 
on  the  throne,  judging  right,"  to  "  take  the  cause  into  his 
own  hand,  and  judge  between  them  and  their  enemies ;" 
and  they  are  enjoined,  after  the  victory  has  been  given  them, 
to  acknowledge  that  He  has  been  their  strength,  and  to  pray 
that  "  the  mercies  which  they  have  received  at  His  hands 
may  be  improved  to  his  glory,  to  the  advancement  of  His 
gospel,  the  honour  of  their  sovereign,  and,  as  far  as  in  them 
lieth,  to  the  good  of  all  mankind."  Thus  solemnly  are  they 
instructed ;  and  it  is  not  presumptuous  to  believe,  that  while 
the  service  is  carried  on  in  this  spirit,  and  in  this  faith,  the 
protection  which  has  hitherto  been  vouchsafed  it,  and  which 
is  thus  implored,  will  never  be  withdrawn. 


THE 

NAVAL     HISTORY 

OF 

ENGLAND, 

ETC. 


INTRODUCTION. 
CHAPTER  I. 

BRITISH  SHIPS  AT  THE  TIME  OP  CESAR'S  INVASION.— CARAU- 
SIUS.— SAXON  PIRATES  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY.— SAXON 
CONaUEST.-SYSTEM  OP  NORTHERN  PIRACY.— NAVAL  FORCE 
ESTABLISHED  BY  ALFRED. 

Thk  first  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain  were  a  maritime 
people,  a  branch  of  those  whom  the  Greeks  called  Kimme- 
rioi,  and  the  Latins  Cimbri ;  a  name  which  the  Cambrians, 
or,  more  properly  the  Cymry,  retain  in  their  own  tongue  to 
this  day.  According  to  tradition,  which  there  is  no  cause 
for  impugning,  they  came  from  Asia,  or  the  Summer  Coun- 
try, but  Ijy  way  of  the  Hazy,*  or  German  Ocean.  The 
Kelts,  a  kindred  people,  came  next,  from  the  opposite  coast 
of  France ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  Phenicians  at  an  early 
age  did  more  than  visit  this  island,  otherwise  there  would 
not  have  remained  so  many  vestiges  of  their  language,  their 
mythology,  and  their  superstitions.  Caesar  could  obtain  no 
information  either  concerning  the  extent  of  the  land  or  the 
condition  of  its  inhabitants,  for  none  but  merchants  were  al- 
lowed to  enter  the  ports  ;  and  these,  as  it  appears,  the  ports 
only.  A  country  could  hardly  have  been  thus  jealously  de- 
fended without  some  maritime  force  ;  but  when  Caesar 
determined  upon  invading  the  Britons,  he  had  previously 
destroyed  their  fleet  in  the  great  naval  victory  which  he  ob- 
tained over  them  and  their  allies,  the  Veneti.  The  de- 
scription of  the  Gallic  ships  which  he  encountered  in  that 
action  must  be  understood  as  describing  the  British  also. 
Their  bottoms  were  flatter  than  those  of  the  Roman  vessels, 
that  they  might  be  the  better  accommodated  to  tide  harbours 

*  Triads,  quoted  in  Turner's  History  of  the  Anglo  Saxons,  i.  38.  (third 
edition.)    CambroBriton,  i.  45,  46. 


24  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

and  to  a  shoal  coast ;  and  they  were  elevated  both  at  the 
prow  and  the  poop,  because  that  mode  of  building  was  then 
deemed  best  adapted  to  our  stormy  seas.  They  were  con- 
structed wholly  of  oak,  for  strength ;  the  anchors  were  se- 
cured by  iron  chains  instead  of  cables ;  and  the  sails  were 
made  of  skins  and  thin  leather,  either  because  the  people 
were  not  acquainted  with  the  use  of  linen,  or  because  it  was 
erroneously  supposed  (and  this  was  thought  by  Csesar  more 
likely)  that  no  weaker  material  could  withstand  the  winds 
to  which  they  were  liable  in  these  parts.  It  was  by  disabling 
their  rigging  that  he  defeated  tkiem ;  and  this  he  effected  by 
affixing  keen  bill-hooks  to  long  poles,  and  catching  with 
these  the  ropes  whereby  their  sails  Avere  fastened  to  the  mast; 
this  hold  having  been  caught,  the  Roman  rowers  put  forth  all 
their  strength,  and  when  the  tackling  was  cut  the  ship  be- 
came unmanageable.  Thus  the  Romans  obtained  a  victory 
which  they  knew  not  how  to  seek  by  any  other  means  ;  for 
the  beaks  of  their  galleys  could  make  no  impression  upon 
the  strong  oak  timbers  of  the  Gauls  and  Britons ;  and  even 
when  they  set  up  towers,  the  enemy  looked  down  upon  them 
from  their  lofty  poops,  and  threw  their  weapons  at  advan- 
tage. An  opportune  calm  enabled  Caesar  to  complete  his 
success,  when  the  ships  which  had  saved  their  cordage  en- 
deavoured to  make  off;  and  of  two  hundred  and  twenty 
sail,  of  which  the  allied  fleet  consisted,  so  few  escaped,  that 
their  naval  force  was  in  that  action  destroyed.* 

As  it  thus  appears  that  the  Britons  had  good  war  ships 
before  the  Roman  conquest,!  so  is  it  certain  that  they  were 
hardy  seamen,  and  used  to  cross  both  the  English  and  Irish 
channels  in  vessels  constructed  of  wicker  work  and  covered 
with  skins. :|:     Coracles  §  thus  made,  differing  only  in  the 

*  Cffisar,  de  Bello  Gallico,  1.  iii.  6  13—16.  Mare  Clausum,  Seldeni  Opera, 
ii.  1287. 

t  The  learned  person  who  digested  the  Chronological  Epitome  of  the 
Historical  Triads  (Canibro-Britnn,  iii.  133—137)  fixes  the  probable  date  for 
the  introduction  of  shipbuilding  among  the  Cymry  about  100  years  before 
Christ.  The  Triads  ascribe  it  to  one  of  "the  three  beneficent  artizans  of 
the  isle  of  Britain ;  Corvenwr,  the  bard  of  Ceri,  of  the  Long  While  Lake, 
who  first  made  a  ship,  with  sail  and  rudder,  for  the  nation  of  the  Cymry." — 
{lb.  ii.  389.) 

X  Selden,  ii.  1283.  It  was  in  boats  of  this  construction,  the  use  of  which 
he  had  learnt  in  Britain,  that  Csesar  passed  his  army  across  the  Segre,  near 
Ilerda  (the  modern  Lerida,)  when  he  was  advancing  against  Afranius  and 
Petreius.— J5e  Bell.  Civ.  I.  i.  §  54. 

§  Several  canoes  have  been  dug  up  in  Lincolnshire,  all  of  oak,  and  re- 
markable for  the  free  grain  of  the  timber;  so  that  the  millwrights  and  car- 
penters who  examined  it,  declared  that,  in  their  opinion,  it  was  of  foreign 
growth,  and  the  produce  of  a  warmer  country.  But  that  the  canoes  cuuld 
not  have  been  brought  there  from  any  warmer  country  eeeros  certain ;  and 


FIRST  BRITISH  VESSELS.  25 

material  with  which  they  are  coated,  and  carrj'ing  only  a 
single  person,  are  still  used  upon  the  Severn,  and  in  most 
of  the  Welsh  rivers.  They  are  so  small  and  light,  that, 
when  the  fisherman  lands,  he  takes  his  boat  out  of  the  water 
and  bears  it  home  upon  his  back.  In  the  management  of 
such  slight  and  unsteady  vessels  great  hardihood  and  dexte- 
rity must  have  been  acquired,  especially  in  a  climate  so  un- 
certain, and  in  such  stormy  seas  as  ours. 

Caesar's  success  against  the  Britons,  when  he  invaded 
them,  was  not  such  as  he  had  gained  in  his  naval  action 
against  the  Veneti.  Over  liiese  he  exercised,  in  full  rigour, 
what  were  then  deemed  the  rights  of  conquest, — putting 
their  senators  to  the  sword,  and  selling  the  people  for  slaves 
by  military  auction.  But  the  advantages  which  he  obtained 
over  the  Britons  afforded  him  little  more  than  a  pretext  for 
withdrawing  from  the  island  without  dishonour.  On  his  re- 
turn to  Rome  he  dedicated  to  Venus  a  breast-plate,  adorned, 
it  was  said,  with  British  pearls  :*  such  an  offering  to  the  sea- 
bom  goddess  was  intended  to  denote  that  he  had  acquired  the 
dominion  of  the  seas,  and  this  became  the  theme  of  his  enco- 
miasts ;  and  it  was  not  an  empty  boast.  For  the  naval  supe- 
riority of  the  Romans  could  no  longer  be  disputed  in  the 
British  seas ;  and  it  enabled  them  in  the  reigii  of  Augustus 
to  exact  that  as  a  tribute  from  Britain  which  Csesar  had  only 
imposed  in  the  form  of  a  duty  upon  all  imports  and  exports. 
Caligula's  insane  bravado  upon  the  opposite  Batavian  coast, 
where  he  drew  up  his  army  upon  the  sand,  and  made  them 
collect  shells  as  the  spoils  of  the  sea,  unequivocally  proved 
his  craziness;  but  it  also  shows  of  what  importance  the 
Romans  esteemed  their  maritime  dominion,  and  that  they 
considered  it  as  depending  in  these  parts  upon  the  posses- 
sion of  this  island.  And  when  Claudius  invaded  it,  and 
carried  into  effect  the  threat  of  his  frantic  predecessor,  he 
caused  upon  his  triumphal  return  a  navalj  crown  to  be 
affixed  beside  the  civic  one  on  the  summit  of  the  Palatine 
palace,  and  he  also  was  panegyrised  as  "  sovereign  of  the 
ocean." 

if  any  inference  can  be  drawn  from  the  grain  of  the  wood,  as  indicating 
its  growth  in  a  warmer  climate,  it  would  seem  to  be,  that  these  canoes  were 
made  when  the  climate  of  this  island  was  warm  enough  for  elephants, 
hyenas,  tygers,  hippopotamuses,  and  other  inhabitants  of  southern  coun- 
tries, whose  remains  have  been  brought  to  light  here. 

*  C.  Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  ix.  §  57.  Pliny  seems  to  suspect  that  the  pearls 
were  not  procured  in  Britain  :  he  says,  "  In  Britannia  parvos  atque  deco- 
lores  nasci  certum  est ;  quoniam  di  vus  Julius  thoracem,  quem  Veneri  Gene- 
trici  in  templo  ejus  dicavit,  ex  Britannicis  margaritis  factum  voluerit  in- 
telligi." 

t  Suetonius,  in  Claud.  S  17. 

Vol.  I.  C 


26  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

It  was  chiefly  by  means  of  his  ships  that  Agricola  com- 
pleted the  reduction  of  the  island,  as  far  as  it  was  reduced. 
From  that  time  the  Romans  kept  a  fleet  upon  its  coast ;  and 
if  the  title  archigubemus  is  not  rather  to  be  interpreted  chief 
pilot,  Seius  Saturninus  was  the  first  high  admiral  of  the  Bri- 
tish fleet  whose  name  appears  in  history,  and  the  only  Ro- 
man one  whose  name  has  been  preserved.  He  held  that 
station  (whichever  it  may  have  been)  in  the  reigns  of  Ha- 
drian and  Antoninus  Pius.*  But  there  is  nothing  uncertain 
concerning  the  rank  and  character  of  the  next  person,  who, 
after  an  interval  of  two  centuries,  kept  the  British  seas,  and 
first  made  Britain  a  maritime  power.  This  person,  Caius 
Carausius  by  name,  and  by  birth  a  Menapian  of  the  lowest 
origin,  had  been,  for  his  approved  courage  and  nautical  skill, 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Roman  fleet,  which  had 
its  station  at  Gessoriacum  (now  Boulogne)  in  his  native 
country.  With  this  fleet  he  was  to  scour  the  seas,  and  clear 
them  of  the  northern  sea-rovers,  who  had  now  begun  to  in- 
fest all  civilized  coasts  within  their  reach.  But  he,  whose 
object  at  that  time  was  to  enrich  himself,  compounded  with 
the  pirates,  instead  of  destroying  them ;  and  when  he  learnt 
that  this  practice  was  suspected,  he  suflfered  them  to  pass 
unmolested  on  their  outward  voyage,  and  intercepted  them 
on  their  return,  laden  with  booty,  which  he  took  to  himself, 
distributing  it  among  his  men  so  as  to  secure  their  fidelity. 
Maximian,  who  then  governed  the  western  division  of  the 
empire,  rightly  apprehended  that  Carausius  was  meditating 
some  scheme  of  usurpation.  In  those  ages,  power  consti- 
tuted right ;  and  any  means  seem  to  have  been  thought  al- 
lowable for  retaining,  at  least,  if  not  for  acquiring  it.  The 
readiest  means,  perhaps  the  only  ones,  which  occurred  to 
the  emperor  for  preventing  an  intended  treason,  was  to  make 
away  with  the  traitor ;  and,  as  a  Mahommedan  Sultan  would 
now  do  towards  a  governor  whom  he  suspected,  he  sent  a 
messenger  to   assassinate  him.|     The  attempt  was 

289*  ^''^^^'^  foreseen  or  frustrated  ;  and  Carausius,  sailing 
across  to  Britain,  persuaded  the  Roman  troops  there. 


*  Henry,  i.  422.  Selden,  Mare  Clausum,  lib.  ii.  c.  5.,  there  quoted.  The 
Britannia  on  our  copper  coin  differs  little,  except  in  costume,  from  the 
Britannia  on  the  copper  coin  of  Antoninus  Pius: — "  Ea  est  forma  muliebris 
palla  aeu  supparo  induta,  nunc  rupibus,  nunc  ginbo  in  occano  insidens  cum 
Bigno  niilitari,  hasta,  scuto. — Britanniam  circumambienti  oceano  imperare 
ita  notabant,  et  Romanum  imperatorem  Britannia;." — Mare  Clausum,  Sel- 
den. Op.  t.  ii.  1309. 

t  Mascou's  Hist,  of  the  Ancient  Germans,  English  translation,  book  vi. 
§  iii.  p.  243.  Aurelius  Victor,  c  xxxiz.  Eutropius,  lib.  ix.  §  xiii.,  there 
quoted.    Turner,  i.  162—164.    Henry,  i,  61. 


CARAUSIUS.  27 

and  the  people  in  general,  to  take  up  his  cause,  assumed  the 
purple,  and  took  the  titles  of  Emperor  and  Augustus. 

The  adventurer  was  well  qualified  for  the  perilous  station 
which  he  had  attained  :  he  increased  his  navy  by  building  a 
great  number  of  ships  upon  the  Roman  model ;  he  courted 
the  friendship  of  the  Franks  and  other  barbarous  nations,  in- 
vited their  young  men  into  his  fleet  and  his  army,  trained 
them  both  to  the  land  and  sea  service ;  and  being  in  posses- 
sion of  both  sides  of  the  channel  he  harassed  the  coasts  of 
Gaul,  and  Spain,  and  Italy.  A  new  naval  force  was  to  be 
created  before  any  effort  could  be  directed  against  him ;  but 
sailors  cannot  be  made  ready  upon  any  sudden  demand,  like 
soldiers ;  Carausius  obtained  an  easy  victory ;  and  Diocle- 
tian and  Maximian  saw  they  had  no  better  course  than  that 
of  making  peace  with  him  for  the  present.  They  acknow- 
ledged him,  therefore,  by  the  neune  of  Marcus  Aurelius  Vale- 
rius Carausius,  for  their  brother  emperor,  and  resigned  Britain 
to  him.  He  soon  recovered  from  the  Picts  and  Scots  all  that 
had  ever  been  possessed  by  the  Romans ;  and  he  repaired 
the  wall  of  Severus,  which  he  is  seiid  to  have  strengthened 
with  seven  castles,  or  rather  towers.  A  remarkable  monu- 
ment of  antiquity  on  the  river  Carron,  known  by  the  name  of 
Arthur's  Oven,*  among  other  guesses  concerning  its  origin, 
has  been  supposed  to  have  been  erected  by  him.  Cultivat- 
ing, also,  the  arts  of  peace  as  well  as  of  war,  he  endeavoured 
to  make  the  Romanised  Britons  sensible  that  it  was  not  less 
for  their  advantage  than  their  honour  that  the  emperor  should 
reside  among  them.  He  struck  sundry  coins,  specimens  of 
which  yet  remain ;  and  skilful  artists  came  hither  from  the 
Continent,  attracted  by  the  encouragement  of  a  munificent 
sovereign.  But  the  greatest  proof  of  his  policy  is,  that  he 
formed  a  lea^e  with  the  piratical  tribes  who  were  then  set- 
tled on  the  Thracian  Bosphorus ;  the  object  of  which  was 
that  they  should  send  a  strong  fleet  up  the  Mediterranean  to 
join  him  on  the  British  seas,  and  act  against  the  Romans. 
Little  pretence  even  to  good  faith  was  made  in  those  imperied 
a^es ;  and  the  peace  which  he  had  concluded  with  Diocle- 
tian and  Meiximian  was  tacitly  intended  on  both  sides  to  con- 

*  "  Mr.  Gordon  eupposes  it,"  says  Pennant,  "  to  have  been  a  saeellum,  or 
little  chapel — a  repository  for  the  Roman  insignia  or  standards:  but,  to  the 
mortification  of  every  curious  traveller,  this  matchless  edifice  is  now  no 
more :  its  barbarous  owner,  a  Gothic  knight,  caused  it  to  be  demolished,  in 
order  to  make  a  mill  dam  with  the  materials;  which,  within  less  than  a 
year,  the  Naiads,  in  resentment  of  the  sacrilege,  came  down  in  a  flood  and 
entirely  swept  away.— Unfortunately  it  stood  at  a  small  distance  from  the 
founderies,  on  a  little  rising  above  the  river."— Pinkcrton's  Collection  of 
Voyages,  iii.  J 16, 

/ 
/ 


28  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

tinue  only  till  a  favourable  opportunity  for  breaking  it  should 
arrive.  The  old  emperors,  who  at  this  time  heid  adopted  ezich 
a  coadjutor  and  successor,  exerted  themselves  now  to  crush 
an  enemy,  who,  it  was  evident,  would  not  long  content  him- 
self with  the  possession  of  Britain.  Maximiem,  accordingly, 
fitted  out  a  fleet  of  a  thousand  sail  in  the  Batavian  ports ;  and 
the  Caesar  Constantius  marched  with  an  army  to  besiege 
Carausius  in  Gessoriacum.  This  undertaking  seems  to  have 
been  begun  before  the  naval  armament  was  ready  to  co-ope- 
rate ;  and  Constantius  had  no  other  means  of  cutting  off  the 
enemy  from  the  succours  which  he  received  by  sea,  than  by 
building  a  dam  across  the  harbour.  He,  no  doubt,  bore  in 
mind  the  example  of  Alexander  at  Tyre,  and  did  not  take  into 
consideration  the  force  of  the  tide.  So  strong,  however,  was 
the  mole  which  he  erected,  that  Carausius,  despjuring  of  any 
other  deliverance,  broke  through  the  Roman  ceunp,  with  a  few 
followers,  in  a  dark  night,  and  embarking  in  a  small  vessel, 
crossed  to  Britain.  It  is  said,  that  on  the  following  night 
the  sea  swept  away  the  mole,  and  left  the  port  open ;  but 
this,  for  which  he  must  long  have  looked  wistfully,  occurred 
too  late  for  Carausius,  for  the  town  surrendered,  and  with  it 
a  considerable  part  of  his  naval  force.  Constantius 
Qnn'  then  was  enabled  to  leave  a  sufficient  squadron  on  the 
■  coast,  and  proceeded  with  the  rest  of  his  fleet  against 
the  Franks,  whom  he  entirely  defeated.* 

Carausius,  thus  deprived  of  his  dominion  on  the  opposite 
coast,  and  of  his  allies  also,  was  reduced  to  act  on  the  defen- 
sive ;  and  he  might  have  maintained  himself  in  Britain,  and 
not  improbably  recovered  the  command  of  the  channel,  if  any 
abilities  could  be  secure  against  domestic  treason.  One  of  his 
chief  officers,  who  was  also  his  most  trusted  friend,  AUectus 
by  name,  murdered  him,  and  assumed  the  purple  in  his  stead. 
This  was  joyful  news  for  the  Romans,  who  looked  upon  the 
separation  of  Britain  from  the  empire  as  an  intolerable  re- 
proach, and  as  a  grievous  loss  also ;  being  a  country  that 
produced  com  in  abundance,  was  rich  in  pastures  and  in 
mines,  yielded  a  large  revenue  in  its  customs  and  tributes, 
and  was  environed  with  havens,  the  importance  of  which 
was  now  perceived  when  the  coasts  of  the  empire  were  in- 
fested by  maritime  enemies :  yet  nearly  three  years  elapsed 
after  the  murder  of  Carausius,  before  Constantius  could  com- 
plete his  preparations  for  invading  the  island.  At  length  he 
sailed  with  one  part  of  his  armament  from  the  Scheldt ;  the 
other,  putting  to  sea  at  the  same  time  from  the  Seine,  under 

♦  Gibbon,  ii.  123—127.  (8vo  edition.)    Henry,  i.  62. 


CARAUSICS.  29 

farour  of  a  fog,  passed  the  British  fleet  which  was  lying  off 
the  Isle  of  Wigrht  to  intercept  them.  This  division  landed 
without  opposition,  and  their  commander,  Asclepiodotus,  set 
fire  to  his  ships,  because  they  must  otherwise  have  fallen 
into  the  enemies'  hands.  AUectus  manifested  more  courage 
than  ability  in  his  measures ;  marching  hastily  against  this 
division,  he  left  Constantius  to  land  unresisted ;  and  he  fell 
in  the  first  action,  having  cast  off  the  purple,  not  in  the  hope 
of  escape,  it  is  said,  for  of  that  he  despaired,  but  that  it  might 
not  be  known  he  was  slain ;  but  his  body  was  discovered  up- 
on the  field.*  His  army  consisted  almost  wholly  of  Franks, 
Saxons,  and  other  Northmen ;  scarcely  a  Roman,  that  is,  a 
civilized  Briton,  being  found  among  the  dezui.  Those  who 
escaped  made  with  all  speed  for  London,  intendi  ng  to  sack 
the  city,  and  then  take  ship  for  their  own  country ;  but  a  part 
of  Constantius's  force,  which  having  parted  company  in  the 
fog,  had  landed  in  the  Thames,  arrived  at  London  just  in 
time  to  protect  the  inhabitants ;  and  these  barbarians  were 
slaughtered  in  the  streets.f  Their  leader,  Gallus,  was  driven 
into  a  rivulet,  and  drowned  ;  and  from  him  that  rivulet  is  said 
to  have  been  called  Walbrook,:^^ — a  name  retained  by  the 
parish  under  which  the  stream  now  flows. 

Constantius  was  extolled  by  his  encomijist  for  the  recovery 
of  Britain,  as  if  he  had  conquered  another  world,  and  added 
the  main  ocean  to  the  Roman  empire.  The  evil  which  he 
had  put  an  end  to  might  have  spread,  it  was  truly  said,  far  ais 
the  ocean  seas  stretch,  and  the  Mediterranean  gulfs  extended, 
for  no  place  which  the  pirates  could  approach  was  safe  from 
them.  "  They  put  us  in  fear,"  said  the  orator,  "  as  far  as 
either  sea  reacheth  or  winds  blow.  But  now  were  the  seas 
purged  and  brought  to  perpetual  quietness.  Now  were  the 
coasts  of  Gaul  in  security  ;  now  was  Spain  safe ;  now  Italy  ^ 
now  Africa,  and  all  nations,  even  to  the  marshes  of  Mseotis, 
relieved  from  their  perpetual  apprehensions. "§  The  import- 
ance of  Constantius's  success  was  not,  indeed,  over-rated  as 

*  Coins  of  this  adventurer  are  preserved,  having  on  the  reverse  a  galley 
with  this  inccriplion  : — Virtus  Aug.  "  Ciua  imporiiim  ejus  Britaiinicum 
oceani  circuniflui  dominio  maxime  subnixum  esse  quin  vullct,  vix  dubito," 
says  Selden,  ii.  121)4.  t  ilenry,  i.  03. 

I  "  In  the  British  tongue,  NantGall,  and  by  the  Saxons  Walbrook." — 
Campbell,  i.  17.  I  have  not  met  with  Campbell's  authority.  This  deriva- 
tion is  more  likely  than  that  given  by  Mr.  Nightingale(Bcauties  of  England, 
vol.  X.  part  iii.  p  !i<<9,)  who  says,  that  as  this  stream  past  through  an  aper- 
ture made  in  London  wall,  it  received  the  name  of  Wall  Brook.  Other  brooka 
must  have  entered  in  the  same  manner. 

§HoIinshed  (ed.  1807.,)!.  5-21 — 525.,  where  the  substance  of  a  panegyric 
ascribed  to  Mamertinusia  given  at  considerable  length. 

ca 


30  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

to  its  immediate  consequences ;  but  the  quietness  which  the 
orator  had  promised  should  be  perpetual,  was  of  short  dura- 
tion in  the  British  seas ;  the  spirit  of  maritime  enterprise 
which  possessed  the  northern  nations  had  received  only  a 
temporary  check ;  they  soon  recovered  so  much  activity,  that 
the  Romans  found  it  necessary  to  keep  a  fleet  on  the  south 
and  east  coasts,  and  to  build  a  chain  of  forts  along  the  cozist 
from  the  borders  of  Lincolnshire  and  Norfolk  to  the  Isle  of 
Wight ;  and  before  the  end  of  the  third  century,  the  com- 
mander-in-chief of  those  garrisons  had  the  title  of  count  of 
the  Saxon  *  shore  in  Britain ;  the  name  of  that  formidable 
people  being  thus  given  to  a  part  of  the  island  long  before 
they  attempted  a  settlement  on  it.f    • 

During  the  fourth  century  they  not  only  infested  the  seas, 
but  acted  in  concert  with  their  kindred  people,  the  Picts  and 
lowland  Scots,  and  baffled  all  the  efforts  of  the  Romans  to  re- 
press them,  till  Theodosius,  father  to  the  emperor  of  that  name, 
and  himself,  far  more  worthy  to  have  been  called  the  Great, 
was  appointed  to  the  command  here.  By  a  series  of  victories 
over  the  Saxons,  he  obtained  the  honourable  title  of  Sax- 
onicus ;  he  regulated  the  internal  affairs  of  the  island  with  as 
much  ability  as  he  displayed  in  its  defence,  and  left  it  safe 
and  prosperous  for  a  time,  with  the  blessings  of  the  people.:^ 
But  no  prosperity  could  be  stable  under  an  unsettled  system 
of  government,  which  tempted  every  ambitious  adventurer 
with  the  prospect  of  a  throne.  The  Britons,  at  the  latter  end 
of  the  fourth  and  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  were  deeply 
engaged  in  the  wars  which  such  adventurers  raised  ;  great 
numbers  perished  on  the  Continent,  or,  instead  of  returning 
from  it,  settled  in  Armorica ;  and  the  country,  having  thus 
been  drained  of  its  best  population,  had  no  time  for  recovering 
its  native  strength,  before  the  Romans,  pressed  on  all  sides  by 
the  Teutonic  and  Sarmatic  nations,  and  then  in  the  last  stage 

of  their  own  degeneracy,  found  it  necessary  to  with- 
-gn '   draw  their  troops  from  Britain,  and  leave  the  island  to 

its  fate.  They  had  taught  the  Britons  many  of  the  arts, 


*  The  Count  of  the  Saxon  shore  resided  at  will  in  any  of  nine  maritime 
towns  on  the  Sussex,  Kent,  Essex,  and  Norfolk  coast;  "quas  (sede8)proin- 
signibus,  ad  mare  depictas  et  principal  diplomati  adjectas, semper  habuit." 
These  ports  were,  Otbona  in  the  hundred  of  Dangy  in  Essex;  Dubris,  Do- 
ver; Lemmanis,  near  Hilhe ;  Branodum,  Branchester,  in  Norfolk;  Garia- 
num,  either  Yarmouth  (Gernemutha)  or  some  place  near;  Regulbrum,  or 
Regulbua,  Reculver;  Eittupis,  or  Rhutupis,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wantsome 
m  Kent,  supposed  to  be  Richborough  ;  Anderidos,  on  the  Bother  ;  Newen- 
den;  and  Portus  Adurni,  Aldrington,  near  Shoreham."— SeWsn,  Mare  Clau- 
turn.  Op  ii.  1299. 

f  Henry,  i.  237.  424.  j  Ibid.  i.  71,  72. 


ARRIVAL  OF  HENGIST  AND  HORSA.  31 

and  comforts,  and  refinements  of  civilization ;  but  they  had 
subdued  the  spirit  of  independence ;  and  the  people,  who  by 
their  departure  were  emancipated  from  foreign  dominion, 
were  in  a  condition  which  made  them  regard  it  rather  as  a 
desertion  than  a  deliverance.  Taking  heart,  however,  in 
their  necessity,  they  made  a  great  effort  against  the  Picts  and 
Scots,  recovered  from  them  the  cities  which  they  had  taken, 
and  drove  them  within  their  own  borders.  But  the  unani- 
mity which  liad  given  them  this  success  ended  with  it. 
Every  ambitious  chief,  who  could  keep  together  a  sufficient 
body  of  followers  for  defying  his  neighbours,  made  himself  a 
petty  sovereign.  The  country  was  divided  among  such  roy- 
alets,  and  devastated  by  their  perpetual  wars.  Thus  it  be- 
came again  a  prey  to  the  Picts  and  Scots,  who,  though 
more  barbarous  than  themselves,  had  yet  some  rude  regula- 
lity  in  their  government,  or  rather  some  principle  of  succes- 
sion in  their  chiefs,  which  rendered  them  more  efficient  as  a 
people.  The  Britons  were  not  able  to  govern,  and  there- 
fore not  to  defend,  themselves.  One  of  their  kings  called  in 
foreign  aid ;  and  the  arrival  of  two  northern  adventurers  at 
Ebbsfleet,  in  the  isle  of  Thanet,  with  three  ships,  and  not 
more  than  300  men,  led  to  consequences  of  more  permanent 
importance  than  Caesar's  invasion  of  the  island.  Tha- 
net was  then  separated  from  the  main  land  by  an  es-  . ^„  * 
tuary  nearly  a  mile  in  width :  that  estuary  is  now  re- 
duced to  the  narrow  channels  of  the  river  Stour,  and  of  the 
Nethergang,  a  still  smaller  streeim ;  but  at  that  time  it  was 
wide  enough  to  render  the  isle  a  strong  hold  for  its  new  oc- 
cupants, because  they  had  command  of  the  water. 

These  first  adventurers  were  Jutes,  Saxons,  and  Angles ; 
others  of  the  same  stock,  speaking  the  same  language,  and 
under  the  same  institutions,  civil,  military,  and  religious, 
followed  them,  and  finally  subdued  and  replenished  the 
better  part  of  the  land.  They  were  one  people,  though, 
as  eveiy  chief  conquered  for  himself,  divided  into  many 
petty  kingdoms.  The  Jutes  lost  their  name,  and  the  whole 
were  at  length  collectively  called  Saxons  or  Anglo-Saxons, 
and,  lastly,  English.  As  they  had  frequented  the  seas  only 
as  pirates,  no  sooner  had  they  effected  a  settlement  here  than 
they  ceased  to  be  seamen.  War  was  the  only  employment 
which  they  desired ;  they  had  enough  of  this  in  winning  the 
country  from  the  Britons,  and  contending  for  it  among  them- 
selves :  and  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  maritime  ene- 
mies, so  long  as  the  ties  of  affinity  were  remembered  in  the 
countries  from  whence  they  had  emigrated.  Those  ties 
grew  weaker  in  every  generation ;  and  when  England,  by 


82  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  conversion  of  its  northern  conquerors,  once  more  be- 
came a  part  of  Christendom,  and  began  to  partake  of  those 
blessings  of  civilization  which  Christianity,  corrupted  as  it 
was,  brought  with  it  wherever  it  was  established,  the  North- 
men were  again  tempted  to  its  coasts  by  the  desire  of  plun- 
der. Offa,  the  most  ambitious  and  powerful  king  who  reigned 
during  the  polyarchy,  saw  how  necessary  it  was  for  their 
own  security  that  the  English  should  become  a  maritime 
people  :  he  encouraged  them,  therefore,  to  build  ships,  and 
trade  with  the  Continent  themselves,  instead  of  letting  fo- 
reigners be  the  carriers  of  their  produce  ;  and  when  Charle- 
magne denied  them  admission  into  his  ports,  this  king, 
whose  high  spirit  wanted  only  a  wider  theatre  to  have  maae 
him  a  most  conspicuous  actor  in  the  wicked  drama  of  those 
ages,  exercised  his  right  of  reprisals ;  and  terminated  the 
dispute  by  a  commercial  treaty,*  which  was  negotiated  by 
Alcuin. 

Offa's  policy  was  too  late  ;  he  was  a  great  but  wicked  man, 

and  the  hand  of  retributive  justice  was  upon  him  and 
t'an'  his  race.     Some  seven  years  before  his  death,  the 

Danes,  with  three  shipsf  from  "  the  land  of  robbers," 
made  their  first  invasion  of  England  ;  and  during  the  fol- 
lowing half  century  they  became  more  formidable  to  it  than 
ever  the  earlier  Northmen  had  been  ;  for  they  had  now  made 
piracy  a  part  of  their  political  system.  The  shores  of  the 
Baltic  and  of  the  adjacent  ocean  were  possessed  by  a  most 
enterprising  and  ferocious  people,  of  the  same  stock  as  the 
Saxon  occupants  of  this  island,  but  probably  with  a  fresh  in- 
fusion of  a  more  barbarous  and  perhaps  different  race.  Upon 
the  death  of  a  king,  one  of  his  sons  was  chosen  to  succeed 
him,  the  rest  had  the  seas  for  their  inheritance  ;  ships  and 
equipments  were  provided  for  them,  and  they  passed  their 
lives  in  piracy,  which  among  these  people  was  the  most 
honourable,  the  most  exciting,  and  the  most  gainful  of  all 
occupations.  Mahommedan  sovereigns  usually  at  this  day 
commence  their  reign  by  putting  to  death^;  their  brethren  by 
whom,  or  in  whose  names,  the  succession  might  be  disputed ; 
the  system  which  sent  the  younger  and  rejected  branches  of 
a  royal  family  to  rove  the  ocean  as  sea-kings,  inflicted  wider 

*  Turner's  Anglo-Saxons,  i.  419 — 421.  William  of  Malmesbury,  Sliarpe's 
translation,  94. 

t  Saion  Chronicle.  Ingram's  edition,  78.  It  is  expressly  stated  there, 
that  these  were  the  first  ships  of  Danishmcn  that  sought  the  land  of  the 
English  people. 

X  The  book  of  Judges  shows  how  early  this  practice  (which  is  the  system 
of  a  bee-hive)  was  followed  in  the  East. 


THE  VIKINGR.  33 

evil,  but  was  less  malignant  in  itself:  for  this  allowed  the 
natural  affections  and  domestic  charities  to  grow  up  and 
flourish ;  but  where  these  are  extirpated,  as  they  are  in  ori- 
ental dynasties,  the  heart  is  utterly  desecrated ;  and  for  the 
people  among  whom  fratricide  is  thus  established  as  a  cus- 
tom of  the  realm  there  can  be  no  hope ;  they  can  only  pro- 
ceed from  degradation  to  degradation,  till  they  perish  as  a 
nation. 

The  Vikingr,  as  these  sea-rovers  were  called,  were,  to 
all  shores  within  reach  of  their  incursions,  what  the  buc- 
caneers were  during  the  seventeenth  century  to  the  coasts 
of  Spanish  America :  like  them,  they  were  the  bravest  and 
most  inhuman  of  mankind.  But  the  age  in  which  they  lived, 
and  the  institutions  in  which  they  were  trained  up,  are  to  be 
regarded,  and  it  will  then  appear  that  the  difference  between 
them  in  wickedness  is  great  indeed.  The  state  of  nature  is 
not  a  state  of  war,  though  erring  philosophers  have  so  re- 

E resented  it;  but  false  religions  and  barbsirising  customs 
ave  rendered  it  so  from  the  earliest  times  after  the  disper- 
sion of  mankind,  always  in  the  uncivilized  parts  of  the  world, 
and  too  generally  in  those  where  civilization  has  taken  root 
and  flourished.  Before  the  north  of  Europe  was  converted 
to  Christianity,  all  free  men  were  considered  there  to  be  as 
certainly  and  properly  born  for  war,  as  sheep  and  oxen  are 
reared  for  slaughter.  With  all  the  infinite  variety  of  indi- 
vidual dispositions,  collective  men  are,  nevertheless,  like 
clay  in  the  potter's  hand  ;  they  receive  the  stamp  of  their 
age  and  country,  and  it  is  in  iron  ages  that  the  deepest  im- 
press is  produced.  The  law  of  nations  being  then  nothing 
but  the  law  of  the  strongest,  no  country  could  be  at  peace,* 
unless  it  were  able  at  all  times  to  resist  all  invaders ;  and 
none  could  at  any  time  be  secure,  because  all  were  always 
exercising  themselves  in  war.  Tlie  Vikingr,  in  those  days 
were  the  Arabs  of  the  sea ; — their  hand  was  against  every 
man,  and  every  man's  hand  was  against  them  ;  their  world 
was  in  a  state  of  warfare ;  all  men  were  common  enemies, 
those  alone  excepted  who  were  united  in  friendship  by  some 
special  tie ;  and  they  only  did  to  others  what  others  would 
have  done  unto  them.  When  we  see  what  men  are,  in  the 
most  enlightened  and  Christian  countries,  living  under  good 
laws,  and  in  the  profession  of  a  religion  which  was  pro- 
claimed with  peace  on  earth,  good  will  towards  men,  and  by 

*  "  Fate  leaves  no  man  longer  quiet  here, 

Than  blessed  peace  is  to  his  neighbour  dear." 
This  melancholy  reflection  of  lord  Brook  is  not  more  applicable  to  history 
tban  it  is  to  private  lire. 


34  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  due  observance  of  which  peace  on  earth  might  be  estar 
blished,  and  peace  of  mind  here  as  well  as  endless  happiness 
hereafter  would  become  the  assured  portion  of  every  one  who 
accepts  the  proffered  salvation, — can  we  wonder  at  the  worse 
than  brutal  condition  to  which  our  fellow-creatures  may  be 
brought  by  institutions  which,  instead  of  seeking  to  repress 
the  evil  propensities  of  human  nature,  are  designed  for  ex- 
citing them  to  the  strongest  action  1 

There  have  been  fouler  and  bloodier  superstitions  than 
that  of  the  Scandinavians ;  but  none,  either  among  earlier  or 
later  idolatries,  that  has  produced  so  great  a  degree  of  na- 
tional ferocity ;  none  that  has  ever  made  war  the  great  and 
all-absorbing  business  of  life,  and  represented  the  souls  of 
the  happy  in  paradise  as  cutting  each  other  every  day  to 
pieces  for  amusement,  and  assembling  after  such  pastime, 
when  heads  and  dissevered  limbs  were  reunited,  to  drink 
together  out  of  the  skulls  of  their  enemies.  Not  to  die  in 
battle  was  esteemed  among  them  a  misfortune  and  a  dis- 
grace ;  a  death  of  age  or  sickness  was  to  be  punished  by 
exclusion  from  the  battles-royal  and  the  skull-cups  of  Val- 
hedla ;  and,  jis  a  means  of  averting  such  a  miserable  destiny 
in  the  world  to  come,  there  were  many  who  committed  sui- 
cide. Some  of  the  Vikingr  boasted  that  they  never  caroused 
over  a  hearth,  nor  slept  under  a  smoking  roof;  but  commonly 
they  seem  to  have  roved  the  seas  as  long  as  they  continued 
open,  and  when  they  were  ice-locked,  to  have  revelled  upon 
Aeir  spoils  in  some  friendly  port  during  the  winter.  There 
is  so  much  of  hardihood  and  of  enterprise  in  a  seafaring  life, 
that  it  will  always  attract  the  most  adventurous  spirits 
wherever  a  people  addict  themselves  to  maritime  pursuits  ; 
and  the  more  hazardous  and  the  more  audacious  the  adven- 
ture, the  more  eagerly  will  such  tempers  engage  in  it.  Thus, 
though  a  great  proportion  of  the  Northmen  literally  inhabited 
the  sejis,  the  land-kings  themselves  made  piracy  their  sum- 
mer occupation,  when  they  were  not  engaged  in  WEirs  at 
home :  all  strangers  were  enemies  :  they  went,  therefore,  as 
enemies  wherever  the  wind  carried  them,  and  they  returned 
with  the  stores  of  every  kind  which  more  industrious  nations 
had  Md  up ;  gold  and  silver,  church  ornaments,  domestic 
utensils,  rich  or  useful  vestments,  mead,  ale,  and  wine,  and 
such  prisoners  as  were  spared  to  perform  the  business  of 
agriculture  and  other  servile  work  for  their  new  mjisters. 
But  mercy  was  no  attribute  of  the  gods  of  Valhalla;  and 
that  generosity  which  leads  to  it  was  seldom  found  among 
their  votaries.  Their  course,  on  whatever  coast  they  landed, 
was  tracked  with  fire  and  blood  ;  neither  age,  nor  sex,  nor  in- 


THE  yiKINOR.  35 

fancy,  were  spared ;  for  it  was  not  in  the  ability  with  which 
their  excursions  were  planned  and  executed  that  they  had 
their  chief  delight,  nor  in  the  excitements  of  hope  and  dan- 
ger, but  in  the  act  of  carnage ;  so  totally  had  they  corrupted 
their  humanity.  We  read  of  barbaric  kings  who  fed  their 
captive  princes*  like  dogs  under  their  tabic,  carried  them 
about  in  cages,  and  set  foot  upon  them  when  they  mounted 
on  horseback  ;  but  compared  with  the  usages  of  his  prisoners 
by  a  Baltic  hero,f  this  may  be  called  courtesy  ;  and  in  the 
cruelty  which  the  Northmen  exercised  upon  those  whom 
they  put  to  death,  they  were  scarcely  exceeded  by  the  North 
American  savages. 

The  discipline  which  existed  among  the  Vikingr  seems  to 
have  been  preserved  by  a  stern:}:  equality,  submitting  to  no 
other  control  than  its  own  laws,  and  that  obedience  to  their 
chiefs,  which,  for  their  own  sake,  was  indispensable.  There 
could  be  no  bolder  or  better  sailors.  Early  education  on  their 
own  stormy  seas  had  given  them  full  confidence  in  themselves : 
skill  in  swimming,  and  dexterity  in  managing  the  oar,  were 
among  the  accomplishments  of  which  their  princes§  boasted ; 
and  it  is  related  of  king  Olaf  Tryggeson,||  that  he  could  walk 
on  the  oars  without  the  boat  while  the  men  were  rowing.  But 
it  was  not  upon  skill  that  they  relied  in  naval  battle ;  they 
sought  then  only  to  lash  ship  to  ship,  and  let  the  issue  be  de- 
cided by  strength  and  courage.  Perhaps  it  was  because  cou- 
rage could  confer  so  little  distinction  among  men,  who  were  all 
in  the  highest  degree  courageous,  that  they  vied  with  each 
other  in  ferocity.  Fear  is  an  infirmity,  which  even  the  feeble 
overcome  when  they  are  compelled  either  to  endure  the  worst, 
or  to  exert  themselves  for  averting  it ;  but  there  are  feelings 
of  humanity  which  the  bravest  partake,  and  of  which  the  wick- 
ed cannot  divest  themselves  without  some  effort ;  and  therefore 
they,  whose  hearts  were  suited  to  this  way  of  life,  gloried  in 
manifesting  how  completely  they  had  subdued  in  themselves 
the  last  remains  of  humanity.  They  devoured  raw  flesh,  as 
if  to  show  that  such  diet  accorded  with  their  ferocious  na- 
ture ;  and  they  made  it  a  sport  in  their  inroads  to  toss  babes 

*  Judges  i.  7. 

t  Stsrk  Odder'8  treatment  of  his  prisoners  is  related,  and,  as  it  seems, 
approved,  in  the  Flist.  Gentis  Dan.  uscribcd  to  Ericof  Pumerania :  "  Qualuor 
aul  sex  ex  iis  complicans  ad  modiim  sedis,  ad  purgandum  alvum ;  et  multa 
alia  prxclara  fecit."  Quoted  by  Uolberg,  Dannemarka  RigesHistorie,  vol.  i. 
p.  54.  Yet  this  Odder  the  Strong  was  a  hero  of  the  highest  renown,  and  a 
poet  also,  if  (as  I  suppose)  he  bo  the  same  person  from  whom  an  Icelandic 
metre  derives  its  name. 

}  TiirnRr,  i.  464,  465. 

§  Complaint  of  Harold.    Five  Pieces  of  Runic  Poetry,  78.  H  Ibid.  SL 


86  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

one  to  another,  and  receive  the  infant  on  the  point  of  a  spear ! 
Some  who  aspired  to  the  highest  degree  of  atrocious  renown, 
were  called  Berserkir :  these  men  wrought  themselves  up 
by  an  effort  of  the  will  to  the  same  pitch  of  fury  which  the 
Malays  excite  in  themselves  by  a  deleterious  drug,  before 
they  run  amuck :  they  became  mad  with  rage,  like  a  rabid 
animal,  bit  their  shields,  threw  off  their  clothing;  and  naked, 
and  howling  like  wild  beasts,  rushed  upon  their  enemies. 
This  practice  was  sanctioned  by  the  example  of  their  god 
Odin,  wherefore  they  who  followed  it  were  at  one  time 
respected  as  being  favoured  with  a  divine  influence ;  but  it 
was  so  horrible  in  its  manifestations  and  effects,  so  like  the 
worst  which  can  be  imagined  of  demoniacal  possession,  that 
the  Berserkir  at  last  became  objects  of  fear  and  loathing  to 
the  Northmen  themselves ;  and  the  Berserkic  madness,  as 
it  was  then  called,  was  prohibited  by  penal  laws.* 

This  system  of  piracy  was  in  full  vigour  about  the  time 
when  the  Danes  commenced  their  depredations  upon  the  Bri- 
tish islands.  Former  invaders  had  come  to  conquer  the  land 
that  they  might  occupy  it,  and  reap  its  produce  :  the  object  of 
these  f  was  to  plunder,  and  to  lay  waste,  and  to  destroy. 
The  Saxon  chronicler  \.  says  that  their  inroads  were  foreto- 
kened by  dreadful  signs  and  warnings,  portentous  lightning 
which  terrified  the  people,  and  tempestuous  winds  and  fiery 
dragons  flying  through  the  air.  Blood  also  is  said  to  have 
fallen  from  heaven  like  drops  of  rain;  and  crosses  of  a 
bloody  colour  to  have  appeared  on  men's  garments  as  they 
walked  abroad. §  Such  portents  are  in  most  ages  easily 
imagined,  or  readily  applied ;  at  this  time,  indeed,  it  w£is 
evident  that  more  than  ordinary  evils  were  about  to  visit  the 
land.  The  consequences  of  a  scheme  of  policy  so  framed 
and  so  pursued  as  that  of  the  Vikingr,  were  lamented  in 
helpless  foresight  by  Charlemagne  himself,  a  man  deserving 
of  the  honourable  epithet  which  has  been  inseparably  united 
with  his  name.  He  was  at  dinner  in  the  city  of  Narbonne, 
when  one  of  their  fleets,  the  first  which  had  entered  the  Me- 
diterranean, came  in  sight.  It  was  evident,  by  the  construction 
of  the  vessels,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  were  navigated, 
that  they  were  not  merchants ;  Charlemagne,  therefore,  rose 


*  Turner,  i.  464, 465. 

t  The  Danish  writers  speak  of  some  claim  upon  Northumbria,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  kingHroar's  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  a  Northumbrian 
royalist:  but  it  is  certain  that  all  their  expeditions,  before  the  time  of 
Sweyne,  were  made  by  Vikingr,  not  by  any  king  of  Denmark.  Holberg,  i. 
50.99. 

J  Page  80.    A.D.  794.  §  Holinshed,  i.  653. 


FIRST  DANISH  INVASION.  37 

from  table  to  look  at  them ;  and  perceiving  too  surely  what 
they  were,  tears  came  into  his  eyes.  "  I  fear  not,"  he  saio, 
"  that  they  can  injure  me ;  but  I  weep  that  they  should  dare, 
in  my  lifetime,  thus  to  approach  my  coasts ;  for  I  foresee 
the  misery  they  will  brin^  upon  my  descendants  !"*  He 
fortified  the  entrance  of  his  rivers,  and  stationed  fleets  or 
erected  forts  along  the  coasts  both  of  the  channel  and  of  the 
German  Ocean,  f  The  British  islands  had  no  such  protec- 
tion. Even  Charlemagne's  defensive  measures  were  of  no 
avail  when  his  dominions  had  passed  into  weaker  hands :  but 
Britain  was  open  to  the  spoilers :  it  was  still  divided  into  petty 
kingdoms ;  and  the  people,  being,  as  one  of  our  historians 
says,  "  naturally  hard  and  high-minded,  continually  scourged 
each  other  with  intestine  wars," — ^thus,  during  the  intervals 
that  the  Danes  allowed  them,  wasting  their  strength  in  in- 
ternal conflicts.  The  pirates  were  often  resolutely  and 
sometimes  successfully  resisted;  but  defensive  war  weis 
waged,  at  miserable  disadvantage,  in  a  large  island,  the 
coasts  of  which  were  every  where  accessible,  against  an 
enemy  who  were  masters  of  the  seas.  Frequent  victories 
encouraged  the  invaders  ;  occasional  defeats  exasperated 
them ;  and  when  such  of  tliem  as  were  made  prisoners  were 
put  to  death,  the  Skalds,  who  composed  death-songs  in  their 
name,  exhorted  their  kin  and  countrymen  to  vengeance  in 
heart-stirring  strains,  and  invented  circumstances  of  horror:^: 
to  inflame  them,  if  that  were  possible,  with  fiercer  enmity, 

*  Monac.  S.  Gall,  quoted  by  Turner,  i.  484.  Carte  is  of  opinion  that  the 
Northmen,  who  at  that  time  infested  these  islands,  were  those  Saxons  who, 
instead  of  submitting  to  Charlemagne,  took  refuge  in  the  peninsula  of  Den- 
mark.   Life  of  Ormond,  i.  10. 

t  Gaillard,  Hist,  de  Charlemagne,  ii.  472. 

\  The  death  of  Regner  Lodbrog  I  regard  as  an  invention  of  this  kind. 
To  cast  a  prisoner  into  a  dungeon  where  he  might  be  killed  by  venomous 
snakes,  is  a  mode  of  death  most  unlikely  to  have  been  imagined  in  such  a 
climate  as  Northumberland,  and  among  a  people  who  delighted  to  feast 
their  eyes  with  the  siglit  of  an  enemy's  sufferings.  Dut  the  vengeance 
which  was  taken  for  him  by  bis  sons,  upon  Ella  the  Northumbrian  royalet, 
is  in  the  spirit  of  the  times;  it  was  what  Stcphanus  Stephanius  thus  de- 
Bcrilies  in  his  notes  on  Saxo-Gramniaticus : — 

"Apud  Anglos,  Danes,  aliasquo  nationes  Borealcs,  victor  ignominilL 
Eumma  debcllatum  ad versarium  atfccturus,  gladium  circa  sca^iulas  ad  spinam 
dorsi  adigebat,  costasque  amplissimo  per  corporis  longitudinem  facto  vul- 
nerc,  utrinque  a  spina  separabat ;  quo;  ad  latera  dcductiB,  alas  reprssent- 
abant  aquilinas.  Hoc  genus  inurtis  vocabant  ai|uilam  in  dorso  alicujus 
delineare.  Glossarium  Islandicum  MS.  cjusmoili  vulnus  sive  plagam  tes- 
tatur."  In  larlasaga,  "  Tunc  comes  Einarus  in  dorso  lialfdani  aquilinam 
ezcitavit  plagam,  ita  ut  gladium  dotso  adigeret,  oranesque  costas  a  spin& 
aepararet,  usque  ad  lumbos,  indeque  pulmoncs  extraxit."  In  Ormsaga, 
"Ormerus  evaginato  gladio  in  dnrso  Rrusi  ^quilinam  inflixit  plagam,  se- 
paratia  a  dorso  custis,  ad  pulmonibus  excmplis." 

Very  probably  the  spread  eagle  of  heraldry  was  originally  designed  to 
blazon  the  remembrance  of  some  such  triumph  over  an  enemy, 

Vol.  I.  D 


38  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

and  make  them  seek  after  revenge  as  the  holiest  of  all  duties, 
and  the  keenest  of  all  delights. 

,yg«        Their  first  incursion  was  on  the  coast  of  Wessex, 

where  the  Reeve  thought  to  drive  them,  as  a  handful 

of  robbers,  to  the  king's  town,*  but  was  slain  by  them. 

„no     They  are  next  spoken  of  as  making  lamentable  havoc 

in  God's  church  at  Lindisfarne, — a  venerable  edifice, 

which  suffered  so  often  by  their  invasions,  that  the  remains 

of  St.  Cuthbert  were  at  length  removed  from  thence,  to  be 

794  deposited  where  they  might  rest  in  peace.  In  another 
descent,  they  plundered  the  monastery  at  Wearmouth, 
remarkable  as  having  been  the  first  edifice  in  this  island  in 
which  glass  was  used  in  the  windows,  and  whither  the  first 
glass-makers  were  brought  over  at  that  time,  and  settled  by 
St.  Benedict  Biscop,  its  founder.  There,  however,  some  of 
their  leaders  were  slain ;  some  of  their  ships  foundered  on 
the  coast,  and  those  of  the  crew  who  succeeded  in  swim- 
ming to  shore  found  there  as  little  mercy  as  they  were  wont 
to  show.f  But  even  these  inroads  had  no  eflfect  in  suspend- 
ing the  destructive  feuds  by  which  Northumbria  was  dis- 
tracted ;  and  the  Danes  met  with  so  little  resistance,  because 
there  was  no  ruler  there  able  to  raise  any  power  of  men  by 
public  authority  to  encounter  with  the  common  enemies,^ 
that  they  were  emboldened  not  merely  to  repeat  their  expe- 
ditions, but  to  invade  the  country  with  the  intention  of  win- 
ning and  possessing  it.  Adventurers  were  soon  found  in 
sufficient  numbers  to  engage  in  an  enterprise  so  inviting ;  for. 
barbarous  as  Northumbria  then  was,  it  was  far  advanced  be- 
yond the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  and  of  the  Eastern  Sea,  in 
comparative  civilization,  and  in  the  consequent  comforts  of 
life :  even  its  climate  might  offer  some  attraction  to  the  Scan- 
dinavians. Fleet  followed  fleet :  they  had  to  contend  with 
a  people  weakened  not  only  by  mutual  slaughter,  but  by 
the  exile  or  voluntary  migration  of  many  of  the  chief  per- 
sons, both  ecclesiastical  and  civil ;  and  they  established 
themselves  in  this  part  of  England  by  an  easy  conquest,  for 
which  discord  and  anarchy  had  prepared  the  way. 

This  conquest  seems  to  have  occupied  the  whole  attention 
of  those  Northmen  whose  views  were  directed  toward  Eng- 
land, for  nearly  forty  years.  During  this  time,  other  parts 
of  the  island  were  advancing  through  scenes  of  turmoil  and 
treachery  toward  a  more  general,  and  therefore  a  more  effi- 

QQQ    cient  government,  than  had  been  enjoyed  since  it 

ceased  to  be  a  Romem  province.     Egbert,  who  had 

succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  Wessex,  first  rendered  the 

*  Sax.  Cbron.  78.  tIbJd-«>,  81.  JHolinshed,  i.  655. 


FIRST  DANISH  INVASION.  39 

greater  part  of  Wales  tributary ;  successively  compelled  the 
kings  ot  Kent,  East  Anglia,  Mercia,  and  Sussex,  to  acknow- 
ledge themselves  his  vassals ;  and  being  thus  undisputed 
lord  of  all  the  states  south  of  the  Humber,  he  marched 
against  the  Angles  beyond  that  river.  They  also  submitted 
to  his  authority  as  Bretwalda,  a  title  equivalent  to  that  of 
Emperor  of  Britain.  But  the  Saxons  and  Angles,  who  began 
about  this  time  to  be  collectively  called  English  (for  the 
Jutes  had  long  lost  their  name  as  a  separate  people,)  yielded 
to  the  assumption  of  a  power  which,  as  it  was  felt  to  be 
useful,  was  also  deemed  legitimate,  when  there  was  suffi- 
cient strength  to  support  its  claims.  There  was  an  enemy 
now  rooted  in  the  land,  and  that  enemy  possessed  the  seas ; 
and  Egbert  had  to  sustain  more  frequent  and  more  obstinate 
contest  with  the  Danes  than  with  all  the  royalets  of  the 
declining  heptarchy.  They  ravaged  the  isle  of  Shepey  ;* 
and  in  the  ensuing  year  landed  from  a  fleet  of  five  qoo 
and  thirty  ships  at  Charmouth  in  Dorsetshire,  and 
"began  to  make  sore  war  in  the  land."  Egbert  gather- 
ed an  zirmy  with  what  speed  he  could,  and  gave  them  battle| 
at  a  place  called  Carrum ;  but  after  an  obstinate  action,  the 
day,  which  seemed  to  have  been  in  his  favour,  turned  against 
him  by  some  chance  of  war.  The  bishops  Hereferth  qo^ 
of  Winchester  and  Wigferth  of  Sherburne,  with  two 
of  the  chiefs  or  ealdermen,  Dudda  and  Osmond  by  name, 
were  slain,  and  he  himself  escaped  under  cover  of  the  night.:t; 
A  council  was  held  at  London,§  for  providing  means  against 
these  formidable  enemies,  and,  as  it  seems,  with  good  effect ; 
for  when  in  the  year  835,  the  Danes  landed  in  Cornwall, 
which,  with  the  adjeicent  country,  was  then  called  West 
Wales,  and  the  Britons,]]  glad  of  an  occasion  to  wreak  their 

*  Sax.  Chron.  89.  t  Ibid. 

}  Sbarpe'8  William  of  Malmesbury,  111.    Holinsbed,  i.  65a 

§  Turner,  i.  440. 

K  The  Britons  themselves  Eometimes  engaged  in  piratical  expeditions, 
though,  as  it  appt^ars,  but  seldom.  A  Triad  speaks  of  "  the  three  roving 
fleets  of  the  Isle  of  Uritain  (meaning  that  part  of  it  which  the  Britons  pos- 
sessed :)  the  fleet  of  Llawr,  the  son  of  Eiriv;  the  fleet  of  Divwg,  the  son 
of  Alban  ;  and  the  fleet  of  Dolor,  the  son  of  Mwrdiath  king  of  Manaw  (the 
Isle  of  Man.)  But  neither  the  age  of  these  Welsh  admirals  is  known,  nor 
any  thing  more  than  their  names,  as  thus  recorded."— Cawiiro  .Briton,  ii. 
387.  There  is  another  Triad  which  names  the  three  fleet  owners  of  the 
Isle  of  Britain:  Geraint,  the  son  of  Erbin  ;  Gwenwyiiwyn,  the  son  of  Nav; 
and  March,  the  son  of  Meirchion  ;  and  each  of  these  fleet-owners  had  six 
score  8hi|»,  and  six  score  mariner:*  in  each  ship.  Geraint  is  said  to  have 
been  a  prince  of  Devon  in  the  sixth  century,  who  was  slain  fighting  on 
Arthur's  side  in  the  battle  of  Llongborth,  and  celebrated  in  an  elegy  by 
lily  warch  Hen.  He  is  also  the  hero  of  one  of  the  Ma  binogion  Tales.  "The 
history  of  the  other  two  aiimirals  is  involved  in  darkness,  though  their 
names  sometimes  occur  in  our  old  writingn."— Can>^o-.&htoR,  ii.  24L 


40  NAVAL  mSTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

old  vengeance  upon  the  Saxons,  joined  them,  Eghert,  with 
a  far  smaller  anny,  defeated  their  united  forces  near  Kingston 
n„^  Hill;  shortly  after  this  victory  he  died,  leaving  a 
*  name,  which,  owing  less  to  his  own  deserts  (though 
he  was  a  brave  and  ahle  prince,)  than  to  the  error  of  our 
earlier  historians,  has  become  a  land-mark  in  English  his- 
tory. 

Egbert  had  learnt  much  while  he  was  an  exile  at  the  court 
of  Charlemagne;  but  if  he  had  learnt  from  that  Emperor's 
example  the  impolicy  of  dividing  his  dominions,  that  lesson 
was  not  impressed  upon  his  son,  who,  reserving  Wessex  to 
himself  as  his  paternal  kingdom,  gave  up  to  his  son  -^thel- 
stan*  all  his  father's  conquests,  which  included  Kent,  Es- 
sex, Sussex,  and  Surrey.  This  was  in  him  a  greater  error 
than  in  the  western  Emperor;  his  extensive  and  ill-com- 
pacted domiiuons  could  hardly  have  been  kept  together  by 
any  one  less  able  and  less  vigorous  than  himself;  whereas 
the  petty  states  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  polyarchy  were  weak  if 
they^were  disunited,  and  never  was  their  whole  strength 
more  needful  than  at  this  juncture.  Ethelwulph  was  of  a 
gentle  disposition,  suited  for  better  times,  and  for  a  happier 
station  than  that  to  which  his  birth  called  him.  Following 
the  bent  of  that  disposition,  he  had  made  a  religious  life  his 
choice,  and  entered  the  monastery  at  Winchester,  under  the 
care  of  Swithin,  a  meek,  unworldly,  pious  man,  afterwards 
bishop  of  that  diocese,  and  still  well  known  as  the  Aquarius 
of  the  English  Almanac.  He  had  even  been  ordained  a 
sub-deacon  ;  but,  on  the  death  of  his  elder  and  only  brother, 
he  was  smmnoned  from  the  convent,  a  papal  dispensation 
released  him  from  his  sacerdotal  vows,  and,  when  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne,  no  want  of  vigour  or  of  ability  was 
found  in  him.  He  hzui  to  struggle  with  a  maritime  enemy, 
against  whom  no  means  of  naval  defence  had  been  prepared  ; 
and  the  annals  of  his  reign  record,  year  after  year,  the  mise- 
ries which  these  invaders  brought  upon  the  peoplfe.  Hardly 
had  he  divided  his  kingdom,  before  three  and  thirty  sail  of 
pirates  entered  the  Southampton  river ;  after  an  obstinate 
battle,  the  Danes  were  defeated  with  great  slaughter ;  but 
another  squadron  defeated  and  slew  Ethelhelm,  the  eal- 
derman,  in  Dorsetshire.  Herebert,  who  held  the  same 
QOQ  rank,  was  slain  the  following  year,  among  the  Marsh- 
gog'  landers,  and  his  people  routed :  we  read  then  of  great 
slaughter  in  Lindsey,  and  East  Anglia,  and  Kent ; 
then  at  London,  and  at  Canterbury,  and  at  Rochester.  Ethel- 

*  Sax.  Chron.  9a 


LONDON  PLUNDERED.  41 

■VTulph  in  person  attacked  a  force  which  had  landed  from  five 
and  thirty  ships  at  Charmouth ;  but  they  remained  masters 
of  the  place.*  "  Long  time  and  often  assailing  the  land  on 
every  side,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  now  invadiog  it  in  this 
place,  and  now  in  that,  the  Danes  did  not  at  the  first  so  much 
covet  to  conquer  it  as  to  spoil  it;  nor  to  bear  rule  in  it,  as  to 
waste  and  destroy  it.  If  they  were  at  any  time  overcome, 
the  victors  were  nothing  more  in  quiet,  for  a  new  navy  and  a 
greater  army  were  ready  to  make  some  new  invasion ;  nei- 
ther did  they  enter  it  all  at  one  place,  nor  at  once,  but  one 
company  on  the  east  side  and  one  on  the  west,  or  on  the  north 
and  south  coasts,  in  such  sort  that  the  Englishmen  knew  not 
whither  they  should  first  go  to  make  resistance  against 
them."t 

The  English,  however,  were  not  yet  wanting  either  in 
courage  or  in  conduct.  The  Somersetshire  men  under  the 
ealderman  Eanwulf,  and  the  Dorsetshire  men  under  the  eal- 
derman  Osric,  and  Ealstan  bishop  of  Sherbom,  met  „  .„ 
and  defeated  an  army  of  invaders  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Bridgewater  river.:^  The  heathens  (for  by  that  name 
the  Northmen  were  often  called,  because  of  the  ferocious  ha- 
tred which  they  displayed  against  Christianity  and  q^li 
its  professors)  suffered  another  memorable  defeat  at 
Wicganburgh  in  Devonshire ;  and  in  the  same  year,  nine  of 
their  ships  were  taken  at  Sandwich,  and  the  rest  of  their  fleet 
dispersed  by  ^thelstan  the  royalet  of  Kent  (whose  name 
never  occurs  afterwards,)  and  by  Ealchere  the  ealderman. 
The  victory  must  have  been  incomplete,  or  over  an  inconsi- 
derable part  of  their  forces ;  for  a  fleet  of  three  hundred  and 
fifty  ships  entered  the  Thames  that  year;  the  Northmen 
landed,  plundered  Canterbury  and  London,  routed  the  Mer- 
cians under  their  king  Bertulph,  and  tlien  turned  southward 
over  the  Thames  into  Surrey.  There,  at  a  place  called  Acleji, 
that  is  to  say  Oakley,  or  the  field  of  oaks,  king  Ethel wulph 
and  his  son  Ethelbald,  with  the  force  of  Wessex,  met  and 
defeated  them  with  greater  slaughter  than  ever  before,  or  for 
many  years  after,  was  heard  of  in  this  island.§  Neverthe- 
less, the  Danes  this  year,  for  the  first  time,  wintered  here,  in 
the  isle  of  Thanet,  where  their  predecessors,  on  whose  pos- 
terity they  were  now,  as  it  seemed,  visiting  the  sins  of  their 
fathers,  had  first  established  themselves.  They  were  at- 
tacked there  by  the  Kentish  men  and  the  men  of  Surrey  un- 
der their  ealderman  Elchere  and  Huda :  in  this  battle  many 

♦  Sax.  Chron.  90,  91.  f  Holinghed,  i.  060. 

I  Sax.  Chron.  98.  §  Sax.  Chron.  92, 93. 

d2 


42  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  EN6LAKD. 

on  both  sides  were  slain  or  drowned,  and  both  the  SaXott 
chiefs  fell ;  but  though  the  Danes  were  defeated,  either  the 
remainder  of  their  force,  or  a  fresh  body  of  invaders,  wintered 
in  the  isle  of  Shepey.  There  it  was  that  Ethelwulph,  with 
the  advice  of  his  bishops  and  nobles,  granted  a  charter  of  ec- 
clesiastical immunities,  which  some  have  supposed  to  be  the 
.original  grant  of  tithes  of  all  England,  but  of  which  the  ex- 
act meaning  and  extent  cannot  with  any  certainty  be  deter- 
mined* from  the  copies  which  have  been  presented.  The 
grant  w£is  made  as  "  a  wholesome  counsel  of  general  reme- 
dy," "  seeing,"  said  the  king,  "  that  perilous  times  are  pres- 
sing on  us ;  that  there  are  in  our  days  hostile  burnings  and 
plunderings  of  our  wealth,  a  most  cruel  depredation  by  de- 
vastating enemies,  and  many  tribulations  from  barbarous  and 
pagan  nations,  threatening  even  our  destruction.""!" 

But  Ethelwulph,  though  he  thus  fully  understood  the  pe- 
rilous'state  of  his  kingdoms,  seems,  when  he  granted  this 
charter,  to  have  rested  upon  the  merit  of  so  good  a  work. 
Taking  advantage  of  a  short  intermission  of  invasion,  he 
went  to  Rome,  and  took  with  him  his  youngest  son  Alfred, 
then  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  age.  There  he  remained  a 
year,  and  on  his  way  homeward  through  France  he  married 
Judith,  daughter  of  Charles  the  Bald  ;  a  marriage  which  his 
time  of  life  rendered  unseemly,  and  which  gave  Ethelbald, 
his  eldest  son,  a  plea  for  forming  a  party  to  depose  him.:;: 
The  popular  pretext  was,  that  he  had  crowned  her,  and  used 
to  seat  her  beside  him  on  the  throne  or  in  a  chair  of  state, 
contrary  to  a  law  said  to  have  been  made  in  consequence  of 
the  crimes  of  Offa's  daughter  Ejuiburga,  forbidding,  for  her 
sake,  that  the  wife  of  a  king  should  either  be  seated  beside 
him  or  called  queen.  But  the  real  cause  was  a  suspicion  that 
Alfred,  child  as  he  was,  being  the  father's  favourite,  would 
be  appointed  to  succeed  him ;  and  Ethelbald  had  determined 
to  secure  himself  against  such  an  act  of  injustice  by  dispos- 
sessing the  old  king  of  his  authority.  There  were  loyal  hearts 
and  hands  enough  to  have  supported  the  old  man :  but  to  have 
engaged  in  what  he  rightly  deemed  a  worse  than  civil  war, 
would  ill  have  accorded  with  the  lessons  he  had  received  in 
his  youth,  and  the  gentle  disposition  with  which  God  had 
blessed  him.  He  addressed  the  force  which  had  assembled 
to  maintain  his  cause,  in  a  mild,  conciliatory  speech,  dis- 
Qcg  missed  them  in  peace,  and  consented  to  a  partition  of 
his  dominions ;  Ethelbald  taking  for  himself  the  wes- 

♦  Sax.  Chron.  94.  t  Turner's  Anglo-Saxons,  i.  509. 

)  William  orMalmesbury,  123. 


ETHELWTTLPH.  43 

tern  and  better  part,  and  relegating  his  father  to  those  eastern 
provinces  which  had  been  Athelstan's  portion.* 

Ethelwulph  soon  died,  and  Ethelbald  survived  him  only 
two  or  three  years ;  the  next  brother,  Ethelbert,  then  suc- 
ceeded to  the  whole  of  his  father's  dominions.  Ethel wulph'a 
last  exertions  against  the  Northmen  seem  to  have  deterred 
them  a  little  while  from  repeating  their  invasions ;  but  he  had 
expended,  in  costly  presents  to  the  pope,  and  in  largesses  to 
the  Roman  cler^  zind  to  the  people  of  Rome,  treasures  which 
a  more  politic  kmg  would  have  employed  in  raising  a  naval 
force  for  the  protection  of  his  country  ;  and  Ethelbert  had  not 
reigned  long  before  a  large  fleet  of  Vikingr  came  up  the  South- 
ampton river,  landed,  and  stormed  the  city  of  Winchester. 
But  the  Hampshire  and  Berkshire  men  collected  under  q-..^ 
the  ealdermen  Osric  and  Ethelwulph,  advanced  to 
meet  them,  gave  them  battle,  and  put  them  to  flight.  The 
pirates  made  for  their  ships,  and  coasting  round,  took  up  their 
winter  quarters  once  more  in  the  isle  of  Thanet.  Hitherto 
there  had  been  no  want  of  courage  in  the  Anglo-Saxons,  nor 
of  that  common  sense  by  which,  if  there  were  no  worthier 
motives,  brave  men  are  induced  to  defend  their  country.  A 
want  of  both  was  first  betrayed  during  this  king's  reign,  and 
by  the  men  of  Kent,  who  made  a  truce  with  these  Dzmes, 
gave  them  hostages,  and  promised  money.  The  Danes 
thought  they  could  take  for  themselves  more  than  the  Kent- 
ish men  would  give,  and  having  deceived  them  by  entering 
into  such  a  negotiation,  they  stole  a  night  march  from  their 
camp  and  over-ran  the  whole  province  eastward.  But  this 
roused  the  Kentish  men  ;  they  mustered  in  force,  and  drove 
out  the  ravagers.f 

The  base  example  of  purchasing  a  deceitful  respite  from 
such  invasions  had  been  set  the  Kentish  men  by  the  grandson 
of  Charlemagne,  Charles  the  Bald ;  it  was  soon  followed  by 
some  of  their  degenerate  countrymen.     Ethelbert  followed 
his  brother  to  an  early  grave  ;  and  in  the  first  year  of  gg^ 
Ethelred,  the  eldest  of  the  two  surviving  brethren,  a 
large  heathen  force  invaded  the  eastern  coast,  and  wintered 
in  East  Anglia,  where  the  inhabitants  made  peace  with  them ; 
that  is  to  say,  submitted  to  them.     Here  the  chroni-  q-^ 
cle  says  they  were  horsed. :f     To  keep  a  firm  seat 
on  horseback  was  among  the  accomplishments  on  which  a 
Scandinavian  liero§  prided  himself;  but  that  a  whole  host 


*  William  of  Malmesbury,  113.  122.    Turner,  i.  513—515. 

\  Sax.  Chron.  96,  97.    William  of  Malmesbury,  127.      t  SaK.  Chron.  97. 

§  Complaint  of  Harold.    Five  Pieces  of  Runic  Poetry,  78. 


44  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

of  sea  rovers,  trained,  as  it  is  certain  that  they  were,  from 
childhood  to  the  sea  service,  should  be  able  to  act  on  horse- 
back like  Cossacks  or  Pindarrees,  and  that,  in  a  country  so 
w^asted  by  invasions  and  by  intestine  wars,  horses  enough  for 
mounting  them  should  be  found,  are  facts  which,  though  not 
to  be  doubted,  are  not  easily  to  be  explained.  The  Danes, 
we  know,  came  at  this  time  in  large  numbers  ;  and  the  num- 
ber of  horses  which  could  speedily  be  brought  together  upon 
their  requisition  implies  a  greater  population  and  a  greater 
state  of  agricultural  prosperity  than,  from  other  circumstances, 
might  be  supposed  to  have  existed.  The  army  crossed  the 
Humber  and  advanced  towards  York,  then,  as  it  had  been  in 
the  time  of  the  Romans,  a  place  of  great  importance.  The 
Northumbrian  Anglo-Saxons, — for  there  were  already  Danes 
established  in  that  land, — had  been  consuming  their  strength 
in  a  struggle  between  the  rival  royalets,  Osbert  and  Ella  by 
name.  On  this  emergency,  there  was  enough  sense  in  the 
people  and  generosity  in  the  chiefs  to  suspend  their  strife, 
and  unite  against  the  common  enemy.  They  met  them  at 
York,  and  the  city  itself  became  the  scene  of  battle.  Whe- 
ther the  Danes  were  in  possession  there,  and  the  Northum- 
brians entered  it  by  assault,  or  whether  the  latter,  having 
sustained  a  defeat,  retreated  into  it  as  to  a  stronghold,  is  ren- 
dered doubtful  by  contradictory  statements  :*  but  the  result 
was,  that  the  city  was  burnt  by  the  Danes ;  that  both  the 
Northumbrian  chiefs  were  slain  ;  that  the  greater  part  of 
their  followers  perished  by  the  sword,  or  more  miserably  by 
the  flames ;  and  that  they  who  escaped  death  submitted  to 
the  invaders. 

Ethelred,  like  his  elder  brethren,  wzis  a  man  well  suited 
to  his  times ;  so  bravely  and  so  strenuously  had  they  con- 
tended for  their  country,  that  it  is  not  imputable  to  them  that 
their  valour  did  not  succeed  in  its  object.  But  the  Danes  were 
masters  of  the.  four  seas  ;  they  could  land  at  will ;  they  had 
now  countrymen  established  in  various  parts  of  the  island, 
tributaries  or  confederates  in  others ;  and  when  they  were 
defeated,  they  had  nothing  but  lives  to  lose  which  the  next 
fleet  replaced.  To  follow  the  series  of  their  battles  would 
be  to  write  the  history  of  England  during  these  ages.  In 
the  last  year  of  his  short  and  restless  reign  Ethelred  fought 
nine  general  battles  with  them  south  of  the  Thames  ;  the  less 
important  actions  in  which  he,  and  Alfred  his  brother,  and 
the  ealdermen,  and  the  thanes,  were  engaged,  were  so  con- 
tinual that  the  smnalist  forbore  to  note  them.     Some  great  and 

*Sax.  Chron.  9S.   William  of  MaUuesbury,  139. 


,  ETHELRED.  45 

signal  victories  they  obtained ;  one  of  the  Danish  kings  fell 
in  battle,  nine  of  their  earls,  and  of  the  commonalty  without 
number ;  but  the  invaders  had  hope,  and  enterprise,  and  per- 
severance on  their  side,  while  provincial  jealousies  distract- 
ed the  Anglo-Saxons.  The  Mercians  purchased  a  separate 
peace ;  the  East  Anglians,  who  had  strived  to  throw  off  the 
yoke,  were  compelled  a  second  time  to  submit,  after  q«j 
their  brave  king  Edmund  had  been  put  to  death,  in 
hatred  as  much  of  his  religion  as  of  his  person.  And  when 
Ethelred  died,  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  reign,  and  Alfred,  the 
only  surviving  son  of  Ethelwulph,  succeeded,  even  the  West 
Saxons,  who  nad  till  then  shown  themselves  the  bravest  of 
the  land,  submitted. 

The  life  of  Alfred  is  the  most  beautiful  part  of  English 
history.  There  is  no  other  name  so  justly  canonized  by  the 
love  and  reverence  of  succeeding  ages  for  all  that  is  admira- 
ble in  a  sovereign,  all  that  is  amiable  in  an  individual ; — ^his 
struggles,  his  wisdom,  his  virtues,  his  suflferings ; — all  that 
he  did,  and  all  that  he  attempted  or  designed  to  do.  But  it 
is  only  the  naval  transactions  of  his  reign  that  appertain  to 
the  purpose  of  the  present  work,  and  these  exhibit  the  com- 
prehensiveness of  mind  which  so  eminently  characterized 
him.  When  his  fortunes  were  almost  at  the  lowest  n/.~ 
ebb,  he  fitted  out  a  few  ships,*  put  to  sea  in  them, 
and  encountered  a  squadron  of  seven  vessels ;  one  he  captured, 
the  others  escaped  by  flight.  The  elements  gave  him  a  far 
greater  advantage  two  years  afterwards.  The  Danes  had  got 
possession  of  Wareham,  at  that  time  a  strong  place ;  Alfred 
was  weak  enough  then  in  policy  as  well  as  in  means  to  pur- 
chase peace  from  them,  and  to  think  that  he  Secured  it  by 
exacting  an  oath  from  them  upon  their  holy  bracelet,  which 
it  was  thought  they  esteemed  the  most  sacred  of  all  pledges, 
and  which  they  had  never  plighted  before  ;  he  swore  them 
also  upon  some  relics.  The  Northmen  regarded  one  as  little 
as  the  other ;  and  while  his  forces  trusted  to  the  peace,  they 
surprised  them  by  night,  slew  his  cavalry,  mounted  their  own 
people  on  the  horses  which  they  had  so  treacherously  obtain- 
ed, hastened  westward,  and  got  possession  of  Exeter.  A 
large  fleet,  going  with  the  intent  of  reinforcing  them  there, 
was  enveloped  in  a  fog,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  of  their 
ships  were  wrecked  in  Swanage  Bay.  The  force  at  Exeter 
then  found  it  expedient  to  enter  into  a  new  negotiation ;  they 
again  swore  that  they  would  depart  from  the  kingdom,  and 
gave  hostages  for  the  performance  of  the  engagement,  which 


*S8Z.  Chron.  103. 


46  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

they  observed  as  faithlessly  as  they  had  done  all  former  ones ; 
for  in  the  following  year  they  over-ran  the  whole  of  Wessex, 
took  possession  of  it,  drove  many  of  the  people  over  sea,  and 
hunted  down  others  or  reduced  them  to  submission,*  Alfred 
being  fain  to  conceal  himself  in  the  moors. 

When  Alfred,  after  those  adventures,  which  impart  to  his 

oon  history  a  charm  like  that  of  romance,  had  re-appeared, 
given  the  Danes,  in  Wessex,  a  signal  defeat,  compell- 
ed Guthram  their  king  to  receive  baptism,f  and  driven  others 
of  them  out  of  the  land,  he  resumed  his  schemes  of  mari- 
time defence,  went  again  to  sea,  and,  meeting  with  four  pi- 
rates, took  them  all ;  the  whole  crews  of  two  being  slain, 
and  a  great  part  of  the  others  before  they  surrendered.   Hav- 

aan  ^^S  expelled  the  Northmen  from  London,:}:  and  from 
*  Rochester,  where  they  erected  a  fortress,  he  sent  a 
fleet  from  Kent  to  act  against  them  on  the  East  Anglian  coast. 
At  the  mouth  of  Harwich  river  the  squadron  engaged  sixteen 
Danish  ships,  took  them  all,  and  slew  the  whole  of  their 
crews  ;  but  as  they  were  returning  with  the  booty  they  fell 
in  with  a  large  fleet  of  Vikingr,  and  after  a  second  engage- 
ment were  themselves  defeated.§  Alfred  now  fortified  Lon- 
don. At  this  time  the  whole  English  nation,  except  those 
who  were  held  in  subjection  by  the  Danes,  are  said  to  have 
acknowledged  him  as  king  ;||  and  by  this  something  more 
than  a  recognition  of  his  superiority  as  BretwEilda  seems  to 
be  meant.  The  remaining  states  of  the  heptarchy  which  had 
hitherto  retained  their  own  kings,  probably  felt  that  they 
were  better  protected  by  being  annexed  to  the  kingdom  of 
Wessex ;  but,  strengthened  jis  he  thus  was,  and  high  in  re- 
putation as  he  now  stood,  and  skilful  as  he  had  become 
in  war  both  by  sea  and  by  land,  all  his  efibrts  were  required 
against  the  most  able  and  most  enterprising  man  that  had  yet 
appeared  among  the  Vikingr,  Hastings,  whose  name  at  this 
day  exists  among  us  as  the  title  of  a  noble  family,  probably,  if 
not  with  absolute  certainty,  derived  from  him.  He  is  first 
heard  of  as  being  so  skilful  a  seaman  that  Regner  Lodbrog 
made  choice  of  him  to  train  up  one  of  his  sons  as  a  sea  rover. 
The  grandson  of  Charlemagne  bought  of  him  a  precarious 
peace  for  France ;  and  he  is  then  said  to  have  sailed  for  Italy, 


*  Sax.  Chron.  104.  Turner's  Anglo-Saxons,  ii.  52, 53. 

tSax.  Chron.107. 

J"The  Englishmen,"  says  Holinshed,  "that  were  inhabitants  thereof, 
gladly  received  him,  rejoicing  that  there  was  such  a  prince  bred  of  tbeirna- 
tion  that  was  of  power  able  to  reduce  them  into  liberty,"  i.  672. 

i  Sax.  Chron.  108.  I  Ibid.  110. 


HASTINGS  ENCAMPS  IN  KENT.  47 

upon  the  bold  hope  of  winning  the  city  of  Rome,  and  with  it 
the  imperial  dignity  for  his  master.    But  so  little  was  his 
knowledge  commensurate  with  his  ambition,  that  he  mistook 
a  city  called  Luna,  for  that  which  had  so  long  been  the  seat 
of  empire,  attacked  it,  took  it,  and  returned  when  he  had  dis- 
covered his  mistake,  and  knew  not  how  to  proceed,  ^-n 
After  having  again  been  for  many  years  the  scourge  of 
France,  he  made  his  first  recorded  attempt  upon  England, 
and  seated  himself  for  about  a  year  at  Fulham ;  from  whence 
he  made  for  the  coast  of  Flanders,  sailed  up  the  Scheldt  to 
Ghent,  and  took  an  active  part  in  those  hostilities  by  which 
that  part  of  the  continent  was  ravaged  ;  but  being  defeated 
at  length  by  the  imperial  forces,  he  marched  to  Boulogne,  con- 
structed a  large  fleet  there,  and  sailed  once  more  to  try  qqo 
his  fortunes   in  England;  hoping,  it  has  been  sup- 
posed, if  not  to  conquer  that  country,  at  least  to  divide  it,  and 
make  himself  be  chosen  king  of  the  Anglo-Danes,  the  North- 
men having  then  no  other  chieftain  of  equal  celebrity. 

Alfred  was  evidently  not  prepared  for  such  an  invasion. 
The  Dane  crossed  from  Boulogne  with  250  ships,  large 
enough  to  bring  his  horses  with  him,  landed  at  Hithe,  the 
Portus  Lemanis  of  the  Romans,  then  called  Lemene,* 
marched  to  Appledore,  where  he  easily  got  possession  of  an 
old  fort,  ill  constructed,  and  not  better  defended  ;  left  part 
of  his  force  there  in  a  winter  camp,  then  sailing  himself  with 
eighty  ships  up  the  Thames,  he  navigated  them  into  the 
East  Swale,  landed  at  Milton,  and  there  intrenched  another 
camp,  the  vestiges  of  which  remained  for  many  ages.  The 
two  camps  were  but  about  twenty  miles  asunder,  and  the 
feriile  parts  of  Kent|  lay  at  their  mercy,  while  the  sea 

*  The  Saxon  Chronicle  (p.  114.)  makes  him  enter  Lemene-mouth,  which 
is  in  East  Kent,  at  the  east  end  of  the  great  wood  called  Andred ;  and  says, 
"  that  the  Danes  towed  their  ships  up  as  far  as  the  Weald,  fonr  miles  from 
the  mouth  of  the  river."  This  river  has  been  supposed  to  be  the  Rolher, 
an  opinion  which  Drayton  follows.  I  have  preferred  the  authority  of  Sel- 
den,  who,  in  his  commentary  upon  this  part  of  the  Polyolbion,  shows  that 
Rye  cannot  have  been  the  Portus  Lemanis ;  and  that  in  the  oldest  authority 
(Ethelwerd)  "no  river,  but  a  port  only,  is  spoken  of;  and  that  the  ships 
were  left  in  the  haven."—"  The  words  of  this  Ethelwerd,"  he  says,  "  I  re- 
spect much  more  than  the  latter  stories,  and  I  would  advise  my  reader  to 
incline  so  with  me." 

1 1  know  not  whence  Drayton  derived  his  statement,  that,  in  consequence 
of  this  invasion,  tlie  natives  began  to  clear  and  cultivate  the  great  forest, 
vestiges  of  which  still  remain  in  the  Wealds  of  Kent  and  Sussex.  They  were 
compelled  to  this,  he  says,  by  the  Danes : — 
"  Old  Andred's  Weald  at  length  doth  take  her  time  to  tell, 

The  changes  of  the  world  that  since  her  youth  befell, 

When  yet  upon  her  soil  scarce  human  foot  had  trod; 

A  place  where  only  then  the  Sylvans  made  abode. 

Where,  fearless  of  the  hunt,  the  hart  securely  stood. 

And  every  where  walk'd  tiee—a,  burgess  of  the  wood ; 


48  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

covered  the  left  of  their  position,  and  the  river  their  right, 
for  the  opposite  coast  of  Essex  was  possessed  by  the  East 
Anglian  Danes.  They,  as  well  as  their  Northumbrian  coun- 
trymen, had  recently  engaged  themselves  to  Alfred  by  oath, 
not  to  break  their  peace  with  him,  and  the  East  Anglians 
had  given  him  hostages :  but  they  regarded  the  fate  of  their* 
hostages  as  little  as  the  sanction  of  their  oath ;  and  Hastings 
well  knew  that  he  was  in  no  danger  of  molestation  from 
them  at  any  time,  and  that  whenever  a  favourably  opportu- 
nity occurred  they  would  act  as  his  confederates.  He  knew, 
also,  that  as  soon  as  it  was  bruited  abroad  in  the  north  that 
he  had  established  himself  in  Kent,  as  Hengist  and  the  first 
invaders  had  done  before  him,  he  should  continually  be  joined 
by  roving  squadrons  of  his  countrymen.* 

The  East  Anglians  presently  manifested  their  wonted 
contempt  of  treaties ;  but  Alfred  disregarding  them,  and 
trusting  London  to  its  recent  fortifications  and  its  own 
means  of  defence  against  them,  he  collected  his  forces,  and 
on .  encamped  between  the  two  divisions  of  the  Danes 
at  the  nearest  point  where  he  could  find  a  position 
defended  on  the  one  flank  by  the  wood,  and  by  water  on  the 
other,  so  that  he  might  strike  a  blow  against  either  army,  if 
they  ventured  to  take  the  field  against  him.  Hastings  and 
those  who  acted  under  the  Vikingr's  command  were  too 
wary  to  afford  him  any  such  advantage :  they  confined  them- 
selves to  marauding  inroads  wherever  the  land  was  defence- 
less. But  the  bands  who  were  thus  employed  were  en- 
countered by  other  bands  appointed  to  this  service,  either 
from  the  king's  army,  or  from  the  towns,  who  were 
night  and  day  upon  the  alert,  so  that,  although  the  Danes 
collected  much  booty,  it  was  not  with  impunity.  In  those 
ages  of  desultory  warfare,  a  campaign  conducted  with  wa- 
riness and  patience  on  both  sides  is  proof  of  extraordinary 
ability  in  both ;  but  the  Vikingr  was  now  a  veteran  com- 
mander by  land  as  well  as  sea;  and  Alfred,  who  had  for- 
merly been  censured  for  temerity,  had  corrected  this  as  well 

Until  those  Danish  routs,  whom  hunger  starv'd  at  home, 
Like  wolves  pursuing  prey,  about  the  world  did  roam ; 
And  stemming  the  rude  stream  dividing  us  from  France, 
Into  the  spacious  mouth  of  Rotter  fell,  by  chance. 
That  Lemen  then  was  named ;  when,  with  most  irksome  care 
The  heavy  Danish  yoke  the  servile  English  bare ; 
And  when  at  last  she  found  there  was  no  way  to  leave 
Those  whom  she  had  at  first  been  forced  to  receive. 
And  by  her  great  resort  she  was,  through  very  need. 
Constrained  to  provide  her  peopled  towns  to  feed, 
She  learn'd  the  churlish  axe,  and  twybill  to  prepare. 
To  steel  the  coulter's  edge,  audsbarp  the  furrowing  share."— &n;  18. 
•  Turner  u.  106, 107. 


HASTINGS  IN  THE  ISLE  OF  MERSEY.  4S 

as  all  the  other  errors  of  his  youth.  A^nst  such  an  enemy 
as  Hastings  he  prepared  not  for  a  sudden  eflfort  but  for  a 
long  war :  mustering,  therefore,  a  sufficient  force,  he  divided 
it  into  two  parts,  who  relieved  each  other  at  stated  times, 
half  being  always  in  service,  and  half  pursuing  their  cus- 
tomary occupations  at  home.  Hastings  was  at  this  time  as 
little  master  by  water  as  by  land,  for  he  saw  no  other  means 
of  securing  his  plunder  than  by  conveying  it  into  Essex, 
and  there  meeting  his  ships  upon  the  East  Anglian  coast ; 
but  he  had  no  means  of  crossing  the  Thames,  except  by 
marching  far  up  into  the  country,  and  to  attempt  this  with 
any  good  hope  of  success,  it  was  necessary  to  deceive  Al- 
fred and  unite  his  forces.  In  this  he  succeeded,  by  treating 
with  him  and  engaging  to  leave  the  country  ;*  and  in  proof 
of  sincerity,  he  sent  two  of  his  sons  to  be  baptized,  and,  if 
Alfred  thought  fit,  retained  as  hostages.  Baptized  they 
were,  Alfred  taking  the  one  child  for  his  godson,  and  his 
son-in-law,  the  ealderman  Ethered,  the  other ;  the  king  then 
gave  them  many  presents,  and  with  this  generous  treatment 
sent  them  back  to  their  father.  While  Alfred  listened  to 
these  proposals,  the  Danes  broke  up  from  their  encampment 
at  Appledore,  passed  his  army,  leaving  it  far  on  their  right, 
and  made  for  the  Thames  at  some  fordible  place.  Some 
such  perfidy  on  their  part  had  been  suspected,  for  Alfred  was 
close  in  pursuit ;  and  his  son  Edward,  with  a  force  which 
he  had  collected,  moved  upon  the  same  point.  They  c£irae 
up  with  the  invaders  at  Farnham,  attacked  and  routed  them, 
recovered  from  them  their  spoils,  and  drove  them  as  far  as 
the  Thames,  where  they  had  no  time  to  seek  for  a  ford,  but 
swam  it  they  who  could :  their  chief,  who  was  desperately 
wounded,  was  carried  over  on  horseback.  These  were  men 
who,  even  when  defeated,  lost  neither  their  courage  nor  their 
presence  of  mind :  though  flying  before  a  victorious  enemy 
they  kept  together  in  force ;  and  being  pursued  into  Essex, 
and  across  it,  where  they  probably  found  countrymen  to  suc- 
cour them,  they  got  into  the  Isle  of  Mersey  ;  a  place  so  de- 
fensible, that  it  has  been  said,  it  "may  be  almost  kept 
against  all  the  world."f  The  zuivanced.  part  of  Alfred's 
army  beset  them  there,  and  continued  this  sort  of  land  blockr 
ade  as  long  as  they  had  food :  but  in  the  words  of  the  Saxon 
Chronicle,  these  besiegers  "had  their  time  set  and  their 
meat  noted ;"  and  when  the  time  expired,  and  their  rations 
failed,  they  broke  up  the  siege,  not  waiting  to  communicate 
with  the  king,  who,  za  he  advanced  thither  with  other  forces, 

*  Turner  ii.  106—110.    Sax.  Chron.  114, 115. 
t  Gibson's  Camden,  viii.  359. 
Vol.  I.  E 


50  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

met  them  returning  home.  He,  however,  proceeded  toward 
the  isle,  from  whence  the  Danes  had  made  no  attempt  to 
effect  their  escape,  because  their  chief  was  not  in  a  condition 
to  bear  removal  ;*  a  fact  which  is  proof  of  both  honour  and 
humanity  among  themselves. 

While  Alfred  was  preparing  to  renew  the  blockade,  he 
received  intelligence  that  the  East  Anglian  and  Northum- 
brian Danes  had  made  a  powerful  diversion  in  favour  of  their 
countrymen.  One  fleet  of  forty  sail,  which  went  north  about 
(and  possibly  may  have  come  directly  from  the  Baltic), 
reached  the  Bristol  Channel,  and  then  laid  siege  to  some 
strong  place  on  the  coast  of  Devonshire ;  while  a  hundred 
sail,  collected  on  the  eastern  coast,  sailed  to  the  south,  went 
down  the  Channel,  and,  disembarking  on  the  south  coast  of 
the  same  county,  besieged  Exeter.  There  was  no  part  of 
Alfred's  dominions  in  which  the  Danes  could  fix  themselves 
with  greater  danger  to  him,  nor  with  greater  convenience  to 
themselves,  that  county  being  accessible  by  sea  on  two  sides, 
and  having  neighbours,  both  in  Cornwall  and  on  the  oppo- 
site coast  of  Wales,  from  whom  good  will,  if  not  active  as- 
sistance, might  be  expected.  Leaving,  therefore,  the  siege 
of  Mersey  island  to  be  carried  on  by  the  forces  of  the 
country,  he  hastened  into  Devonshire.  The  Danes  in  the 
island  sued  for  peacef ,  and  promised  to  leave  England ;  a 
promise  which,  with  whatever  fidelity  it  might  be  observed, 
it  suited  the  English  to  accept,  the  alternative  at  this  time 
being  whether  they  should  choose  to  be  duped  or  defeated. 
For  Hastings,  when  the  other  division  of  his  army  broke  up 
from  Appledore,  got  out  of  the  Swale,  crossed  the  Thames, 
and  began  to  erect  a  fortification  at  South  Benfleet,  near 
Canvey  isle,  on  the  Essex  shore ;  where,  regardless  of  their 
engagement,  the  Danes  from  the  Isle  of  Mersey  joined  him. 
But  while  he  was  on  an  expedition  from  thence,  harassing 
the  land,  the  eastern  army,  who  had  been  fain  to  withdraw 
from  their  blockade,  were  reinforced  by  tlie  Londoners,  and 
by  men  from  the  west ;  and  their  united  forces  attacked  the 
works  at  Benfleet,:(:  broke  them  down,  and  took  all  that  was 
therein;  the  women  and  children  of  the  invaders,  among 
them  Hastings's  wife  and  her  two  sons,  and  the  money  and 
other  spoils  which  he  had  collected.    They  either  took, 

*  Sax.  Chron.  IIG.  f  Turner,  ii.  Ill,  112.    Sax.  Chron.  116. 

t  I  depart  here,  not  without  diffidence,  from  Mr.  Turner's  account  of 
these  transactions.  According  to  him  it  was  the  camp  at  Milton  which 
was  thus  attacked  and  taken ;  and  the  capture  of  the  Benfleet  fortress,  in 
which  the  wife  and  children  were  also  taken,  again  to  be  restored,  occurred 
afterwards.  But  confused  as  the  Saxon  Chronicle  is  in  these  details,  it  dig 
tinctly  authorises  the  statement  in  the  text. 


HIS  FAMILY  CAPTURED  AND  RESTORED.  51 

Iranit,  or  otherwise  destroyed  the  ships  which  they  found 
there,  carrying  some  of  their  prizes  to  London,  some  to 
Rochester.  The  wife  and  children  of  Hastings  they  sent  to 
the  king,  and  he  sent  them  safely  back  to  the  Vikingr :  the 
Saxon  Chronicler  says  that  he  did  this  because  of  the  rela- 
tionship which  he  had  contracted  toward  them  at  their  bap- 
tism; but  it  is  less  likely  that  Alfred  should  have  been  in- 
fluenced by  that  consideration,  or  by  the  vain  hope  that  any 
act  of  generosity  could  affect  an  enemy  like  Hastings,  than 
that  he  obeyed  the  impulse  of  a  benevolent  heart,  obeying  at 
the  same  time  the  dictates  of  a  religion  which  he  believed 
and  loved.* 

The  Vikingr  could  not  mistake  this  for  an  effect  of  fear, 
but  probably  he  ascribed  it  to  superstition :  courtesy,  huma- 
nity, and  kindness  towards  an  enemy  were  to  him  unintelli- 
gible notions..  Collecting  his  scattered  parties,  he  took 
possession  of  Sceobyrig,  now  the  village  of  South  Shobery, 
near  the  south-eastern  part  of  Essex,  and  there  constructed 
defensive  works,  the  remains  of  which  may  still  be  traced. 
There  too  the  loss  which  he  had  sustained  in  ships  and  men 
was  more  than  replaced  by  the  arrival  of  succours  from  East 
Anglia  and  Northumbria.  Thus  reinforced,  and  thinking  to 
strike  terror  into  the  heart  of  England,  as  he  had  often  done 
into  that  of  France,  Hastings  sailed  up  the  Thames  as  far 
as  his  vessels  could  ascend  it,  and  sending  them  back  to  his 
station  on  the  eastern  coast,  entered  Mercia,  and,  plundering 
on  all  sides,  proceeded  toward  the  Severn,  not  improbably 
expecting  that  the  Welsh  would  join  him  when  he  approach- 
ed their  country.  The  ealdermen  and  the  king's  thanes  sum- 
moned against  these  invaders  the  men  of  every  town  from 
the  east  of  Pedredan,  (now  South  Petherton,  where  Ina,  the 
greatest  of  Alfred's  predecessors,  had  a  palace,)  and  from 
the  west  of  Selwood,  and  from  the  parts  east  and  north  of 
the  Thames,  and  from  the  west  of  the  Severn.  This  com- 
prised the  whole  disposable  force  of  Mercia  and  Wessex, 
except  those  men  of  Wessex  who  were  then  serving  in  their 
own  country  under  the  king :  men  were  also  summoned  from 
some  part  of  North  Wales,  which  at  that  time  acknowledged 
Alfred's  authority.  Wilh  this  force  they  pursued  the  enemy, 
overtook  him  at  Buttington,  on  the  Severn  (near  Welshpool), 
and  there  beleaguered  him.  Hastings  threw  up  works  on 
both  sides  of  the  river,  but  on  both  sides  he  was  beset :  he 
had  no  vessels,  neither  had  he  any  means  of  obtaining  sup- 
plies when  his  provisions  began  to  fail.     Some  expectation 

*  Turner,  ii.  1J2— 114.    Sax.  Chron.  115—117. 


33  NATAI.  mSTORT  OF  ENGLAND. 

of  relief  he  must  have  entertained,  for  he  remained  theM 
Hiany  weeks,  till  they  had  eaten  most  of  their  horses,  vaA 
Ihe  others  had  died  of  hunger.  He  then  made  a  desperate 
effort  to  break  through  the  blockading  force  on  the  eastern 
side :  many  of  the  king's  thanes  fell,  and  many  of  the  North- 
men. The  Saxon  Chronicle  claims  a  victory ;  but  Hastings 
effected  his  object;  and  it  is  evident  that  he  was  not  pursued 
with  the  same  activity  in  his  flight  as  on  his  advance,  for  he 
reached  his  stronghold  at  Sceobjrrig  without  farther  molesta- 
tion.* 

There  he  found  the  ships  which  he  had  sent  back  from  the 
upper  Thames,  and  there  he  probably  found  also  the  remains 
of  the  larger  fleet  from  Devonshire.  For  when  Alfred  ap- 
proached Exeter,  the  Danes  heistily  broke  up  the  siege,  re- 
embarked,  and  made  sail  up  the  Channel :  they  landed  on 
the  coast  of  Sussex,  and  attacked  Chichester  ;  but  the 
townsmen  m2uie  a  brave  defence,  put  them  to  flight,  slew 
many  hundreds,  pursued  them  to  the  water,  and  took  some 
of  their  ships  ;|  the  rest  proceeded  toward  the  eastern  coast. 
A  great  change  had  now  been  wrought  in  the  relative 
strength  of  the  contending  parties:  the  Northmen,  who 
some  years  before  had  made  this  island  the  chief,  if  not  the 
only  object  of  their  ambition,  were  attracted  now  toward 
France  and  the  Mediterranean,  where  they  found  richer 
countries,  a  better  climate,  and  less  resistance.  The  Eng- 
lish, on  the  other  hand,  under  the  wise  arrangements  of 
their  king,  had  learnt  order  as  well  as  confidence  in  them- 
selves, and  were  ready  as  well  to  attack  as  to  resist.:^  It 
was  only  from  the  Anglo-Danes  that  Hastings  received  any 
efficient  aid :  they  seem,  in  fiiU  reliance  upon  his  enterpris- 
ing talents,  to  have  supplied  it  zeeilously.  With  their  as- 
sistance he  collected  a  great  force  before  the  winter  eame 
on ;  and,  committing  the  women,  the  ships,  and  the  booty, 
to  the  East  Anglian  Danes,  he  made  a  rapid  movement 
across  the  island,  marching  on  the  stretch,  it  is  said,  day 
and  night,  to  Chester.§  The  English  army  followed,  and 
with  good  speed,  but  could  not  come  up  with  him  till  he 
was  within  the  walls  of  that,  even  then,  ancient  city ;  but 
they  slew  such  of  his  men  as  they  overtook,  drove  away  all 
the  cattle  from  the  vicinity  as  wcil  as  all  that  the  marauders 

♦  Turner,  ii.  115—117.    Sax.  Chron.  118.  t  Ibid.  130. 

t  William  of  Malmesbury,  134. 

§  Spelman  haa  mistaken  this  for  Leicester,  as  Mr.  Turner  (ii.  119.)  has 
shown.  The  Saxon  Chronicle  makes  this  certain, — "a  western  city  in 
Wirheal,  which  is  called  Lega-ceaster,"  p.  119.  That  part  of  Cbeabire 
wiiieh  lies  between  the  estuaries  of  the  Dee  and  the  Mersey  is  called  the 
Wiran, 


BASTINGS  MARCHES  TO  CHESTER.  63 

had  collected,  and  burnt  the  corn  or  trami)led  it  down  with 
their  horses.  They  did  not  persevere  in  besieging  him ;  the 
arrangement  for  supporting  an  army  in  the  field  was  too  im- 
perfect for  this ;  and  Hastmgs,  wlicn  the  country  was  thus 
laid  waste  around  him,  was  as  little  able  to  establish  him- 
self there ;  which,  if  he  could  have  done,  the  whole  qq^ 
north  of  England  would  have  been  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  Danes;  and  this  was,  probably,  his  object 
now,  and  in  his  former  expedition.  Necessity  compelled 
him  to  abandon  it :  he  made  an  inroad  into  Wales,  swept  it 
of  what  he  could  collect  there ;  but  not  attempting  to  hold 
Chester,  nor  to  march  again  through  Mercia,  where  an  ac- 
tive enemy  would  have  encountered  him,  he  took  a  circuit- 
ous course  through  Northumbria  into  East  Anglia,  and  so  to 
the  former  quarters  of  his  countrymen  in  the  Isle  of  Mersey.* 
Thus  far  the  Vikingr  had  lost  little  in  reputation,  and  he 
had  abated  nothing  of  his  hopes.  Before  the  winter  he 
towed  his  ships  from  the  Thames  into  the  Lea,  and  erected 
a  fortress  upon  that  river  twenty  miles  above  London, — it  is 
doubtful  whether  at  Ware  or  at  Hertford.  A  great  body  of 
the  Londoners,  and  of  others  whom  they  called  to  their  as- 
sistance, attacked  these  dangerous  neighbours  in  their  strong- 
hald,  but  they  were  defeated  in  the  attempt,  and  four  qq^ 
of  the  king's  thanes  fell.  This  occurred  during  the 
summer ;  and  when  harvest-time  approached,  Alfred  deemed 
it  necessary  to  encamp  in  person  near  the  city  while  the 
people  reaped  their  corn,  that  the  Danes  might  not  despoil 
them  of  the  crop.  He  then  formed  a  plan,  which  if  the  fa- 
vourable season  did  not  suggest  to  him  it  enabled  him  to  ac- 
complish, that  of  digging  three  new  channels  for  the  waters 
of  the  Lea,  whereby  he  rendered  it  impossible  for  the  Danes 
to  bring  out  their  vessels ;  and  to  protect  the  men  who  were 
employed  in  these  cuts,  he  erected  works  on  each  side  of 
the  river,  and  encamped  in  the  vicinity.  He  succeeded  in 
his  purpose ;  but  the  navigation  of  the  river  in  that  part  was 
obstructed  till  after  about  seven  hundred  years  it  was  re- 
stored to  its  old  channel,  chiefly  by  lord  Burleigh's  means.j- 
Not  waiting  then  to  be  attacked  by  a  stronger  and  better  di- 
rected force  than  that  of  the  Londoners,  the  Danes  sent  their 
women  to  the  care  of  their  countrymen  in  East  Anglia,  and 
once  more  made  their  devastating  way  through  the  midland 
counties  to  the  Severn.  Alfred  pursued  them,  while  the 
citizens  made  spoil  of  the  deserted  ships.  He  ibund  them 
at  Quatbridge  (probably  the  present  Bridgenorth,)  and  so 
fortified,  that  he  made  no  attempt  to  molest  them  in  their  in- 

Sai.  Chrou.  ilD,  120.    Turner,  ii.  118—120.  t  <'amden,  296. 

£'2 


64  BfAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

trenchments :  but  they  seem  to  have  been  confined  thcfff, 
and  the  spirit,  and  perhaps  the  health,  of  his  able  enemy 
was  now  broken ;  for  in  the  ensuing  summer  his  army  dis- 
persed, some  going  into  Northumbria,  some  to  East  Aiiglia, 
and  those  who  had  not  enriched  themselves  with  plunder 
taking  again  to  the  seas.  Hastings  himself  went  to  France, 
obtained  a  grant  of  territories  there  from  the  king,  and  was 
living  there  in  peace  when  his  countryman,  Rollo,  invaded 
Normandy.* 

The  conclusion  of  this  war  against  a  maritime  invader 
connects  it  with  an  important  circumstance  in  the  naval  his- 
tory of  England.  The  marauders,  who  had  been  driven 
beyond  the  Humber  and  the  Ouse,  thought  to  revenge  them- 
selves by  sea  for  the  defeats  and  disappointments  which  they 
had  sustained  on  shore,  and  they  harassed  the  south  coast 
of  Wessex  by  frequent  descents :  these  expeditions  were 
mostly  made  in  certain  vessels  called  8escs,f  which  they  had 
built  many  years  before,  and  which  seem  to  have  been  of  a 
different  construction  from  those  in  common  use,  probably 
longer  and  of  greater  burden.  The  Northmen  were  bolder 
and  better  sailors  than  the  Gauls  and  Britons;  but  their 
vessels  were  of  a  ruder  structure  than  those  which  Caesar 
encountered  in  his  war  with  the  Veneti :  like  them,  they 
were  broad-bottomed  ;^  but  their  keels  were  framed  of  light 
timber,  and  the  sides  and  upper  works  were  of  wicker,  co- 
vered with  strong  hides ;  coracles,  in  fact,  upon  a  large  scale, 
and  with  a  wooden  keel.  The  aescs  were  superior,  it  seems, 
not  only  to  these,  but  to  any  of  Alfred's  ships ;  for  he  gave 
orders  that  long  ships  should  be  built  to  act  against  them, 
fail  nigh  twice  as  long  as  those  which  they  were  to  engage. 

*  Sax.  Chron.  120, 121.    Turner,  ii.  120—125. 

t  Sax.  Chron.  122.  Whatever  these  vessels  may  have  been,  the  sea- 
rovers  who  were  called  Ascomanni  may  perhaps  have  derived  their  name 
from  them :  this  seems  a  more  likely  derivation  than  is  given  by  Holberg, 
who  says  they  were  so  called  because  they  carried  their  food  with  them  in 
chests, "  a;sker,  en  ny  Sect  af  Soe-Rivere  kalden  Ascomanni,  efterdi  de  forte 
deres  victualier  med  sig  udo  oesker,"  i.  101.  This  opinion  of  mine  is  con- 
firmed by  Ihre  (sub  voce  Ask.)  For  the  word  ssc  itself  he  gives  varioaa 
etymologies ;  but  inclines  to  think  the  simplest  the  most  probable,  that  ves- 
sels built  of  ash  (ask)  were  so  called,  "  ut  apud  poetas  Latinos  abies  et 
pinus  pro  ipsis  navigiis  poeita  inveniuntur." 

t  Gibbon,  iv.  288.  (8vo.  edit)  Sidonios,  there  quoted,  (in  Panegyr.  Avit. 
369.),  describes  the  Saxon  pirate : — 

" Cui  pelle  salum  sulcare  Britannum 

Ludus  et  assuto  glaucum  mare  findere  lembo." 
The  Saxon  Chronicle  (p.  113.)  says,  that  three  Scots  stole  away  from  Ireland 
in  a  boat  without  oars,  made  of  two  hides  and  a  half  They  fled  their 
country  that  they  might  live  in  a  state  of  pilgrimage,  they  cared  not  where ; 
and  they  took  only  a  week's  provisions.  Within  the  week  they  landed  in 
Cornwall,  and  were  sent  to  Alfied. 


Acl»ioN  WITH  Alfred's  o«ll'eVs.  (ft> 

**  Some,"  Bays  the  Saxon  annalist,  "  had  sixty  oars,  Ibme 
morf!,  and  they  were  both  swifter  and  less  unsteady,  and  also 
higher  than  the  others.  They  were  neither  made  after  the 
Frisian  nor  the  Danish  manner,  but  so  as  he  himself  thought 
that  they  might  be-most  serviceable."*  From  this  descrip- 
tion, which  is  the  only  one  that  has  been  transmitted  to  us, 
it  is  evident  that  they  were  galleys,  such  as  were  used  in  the 
Mediterranean, f  and  of  which  a  model  might  easily  be  ob- 
tained. However  little  suited  for  general  service  in  the 
British  seas,  they  were  well  adapted  for  defending  tiie  coast, 
and  for  attacking  squadrons  of  greater  collected  force,  but 
consisting  of  ships  less  manageable,  under  all  circumstances, 
and  individually  far  inferior  in  size. 

Nine  of  these  galleys  Alfred  manned  partly  with  Fries- 
landers,  always  a  brave  and  hardy  people,  and  then  so  noted 
for  their  maritime  skill,  that  their  ships  were  accounted 
among  the  best  in  the  north.  He  sent  them  in  pursuit  of  six 
of  the  Anglo-Danish  vessels,  which  going  first  to  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  and  then  to  Devonshire,  committed  great  ravages 
every  where  on  the  coast.  They  found  them  at  the  mouth 
of  some  river :  three  of  their  vessels  were  aground,  having 
been  left  by  the  tide,  and  the  men  had  landed  from  them ; 
the  other  three,  seeing  that  it  was  intended  to  prevent  their 
escape,  stood  boldly  out  and  gave  battle.  Alfred  had  ordered 
his  people  to  take  as  many  as  they  could  alive ;  for  he  had 
determined  now  upon  treating  the  sea  rovers  not  as  enemies, 
entitled  to  the  laws  of  war,  but  as  robbers  punishable  with 
death.  The  kings  of  Denmark  themselves  had  begun  to 
treat  them  thus,  so  intolerable  had  the  system  of  piracy  be- 
come, even  to  the  countries  where  it  originated.  But  these 
orders  were  either  disregarded  in  the  heat  of  fight,  or  the 
Danes  fought  with  a  desperation  which  rendered  it  impossi- 
ble to  regard  them :  on  board  two  of  their  ships  every  man 
was  killed,  all  but  five  in  the  third,  and  these  were  severely 
wounded,  yet  they  got  off  with  their  ship.  There  was  either 
a  great  error  of  judgment  in  Alfred's  commanders,  or  the 
galleys  were  ill  navigated  by  men  who,  though  excellent 
sailors,  were  not  accustomedf  to  such  vessels;  for  upon 
making  toward  the  bay  where  the  other  pirates  were  aground, 

•  Sax.  Chron.  129.    Selden,  ii.  1314. 

t  It  is  remarkable  that  Campbell,  though  he  perceives  this,  should  never- 
theless say  they  were  of  a  new  construction,  devised  by  Alfred  himself. 
Hist,  of  the  Admirals,  i.  36. 

About  the  year  1540,  Gustavus  Vasa  sent  for  Venetian  shipwrights  to 
buiUI  for  him,  in  the  Swedish  purls,  galleys  of  two,  three,  and  four  banks  of 
oars,  as  the  best  vessels  for  acting  against  the  Mu.-coviie  and  Esttaonian 
pirates     Oiaus  Magnus,  liasilio:,  \X7. 1  x.  c.  iii  p.  4^ 


56  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

three  of  the  galleys  got  aground  near  them,  and  were  there 
left  by  the  Jide,  so  that  they  could  receive  no  support  from 
their  comrades.  The  Danes,  seizing  the  opportunity,  at- 
tacked them  on  the  sand :  in  the  severe  conflict  which 
ensued  62  E  nglish  and  Frieslanders  fell :  among  the  latter 
three  were  of  sufficient  eminence  to  have  their  names  re- 
corded ;  among  the  former  were  Lucumon,  the  king's  Reeve, 
and  Ethelforth,  the  king's  neat-herd.  On  the  part  of  the 
Danes  120  fell ;  they  were  inferior  in  numbers,  but  the  ad- 
vantage in  skill  was  on  their  side ;  and  the  tide  floated  their 
vessels  Before  the  galleys  could  be  moved,  so  that  they  were 
enabled  to  push  out  and  endeavour  to  escape.  As  far  as  the 
galleys  were  concerned  they  effected  this ;  but  they  were  so 
weakened  by  their  loss,  and  so  many  of  the  remaining  crews 
were  wounded,  that  only  one  of  them  reached  an  East-An- 
glian port^  the  others  were  driven  ashore  on  the  coast  of 
Sussex,  because  the  men  were  unable  to  navigate  them :  the 
crews  were  sent  to  the  king  at  Winchester,  and  he  ordered  them 
to  be  hanged.  In  the  course  of  the  year  twenty  Danish  ships 
were  captured,  and  the  men  executed  as  pirates.  After  this 
England  enjoyed,  for  about  three  generations,  a  respite  from 
such  hostilities.* 

Alfred,  then,  was  the  first  English  king  who  established  a 
naval  force ;  and  as  he  went  out  with  his  first  fleet  himself, 
he  may,  without  impropriety,  be  considered  as  the  first  Eng- 
lish admiral.  He  invited  into  his  navy  not  Frieslanders 
alone,  who  were  probably  at  the  time  his  allies,  but  adven- 
turers of  whatever  nation  who  were  willing  to  forsake  a  pi- 
ratical course  of  life.f  But  he  well  knew  that  though  great 
present  advantage  might  be  derived  from  their  services,  no 
durable  power  could  be  established  by  such  precarious  means ; 
and  that  it  is  only  by  maritime  commerce  that  maritime  do- 
minion can  be  supported.  On  this,  as  on  all  other  subjects, 
his  views  extended  not  only  beyond  those  of  his  contempo- 
raries, but  it  may  almost  be  said,  beyond  the  possibilities  of 
his  age.  He  sent  an  ambassador  to  India,  to  the  Christians 
in  Malabar,  and  on  the  Coromandel  coast,  countries  which 

*  Sax.  Chron.  122— 124.  Turner,  ii.  123— 1-25.  Campb.  i.  36— 38.  Hen. 
ii.  411.  (Dublin  edit.)  Charnock's  Hist,  of  Marine  Architecture,  i.  SCO — 
262. 

t"  Impositisque  piratisin  illis,  vias  marls  custodiendas  commisit."  Upon 
these  words  of  Caesar,  Selden  observes,  "  Piratarum  hie  vocabulo  (quemad- 
modum  alii  illius  sevi)  usus  est,  non  pro  prsdonibus,  ut  vulgo;  sedpro  iia 
quihostium  classes  arto  navali  adgrederentur,  et  marinum  defeiiderent  ter- 
ritorium.  De  vocabuli  etymo  scholiastes  vetus  ad-Sopboclis  Ajacem:  nii(x, 

inquit  'AxTtxaj^  SoKo^  TiX^tj^oStv  %»t  srn^xTut  01  xurx  ^xKxa-a-xv  TXsrav^yQt, 

'  Pira  Attice  denotat  dolum  seu  artem,  unde  et  Pirate  dicuntur  qui  mare  in- 
festant.' "  ii.  1313. 


ALFRED.  97 

ho  Englishman  visited  again  till  the  16th  century ;  and  whe- 
ther the  navigators  made  their  voyage  in  his  service*  or  not, 
he  obtained  from  Wulfstan  an  account  of  the  manners  and 
political  state  of  the  countries  towards  the  east  of  the  Baltic ; 
and  from  Ohthere  a  description  of  the  land  as  far  as  the 
White  Sea  and  the  mouths  of  the  Dwina ;  parts  which  Ri- 
chard Chanceler,  in  the  year  1553,  was  the  first  European 
navigator  who  re-discovered. 

Bede,  Alfred,  and  Rog-er  Bacon,  are  the  three  Englishmen 
who  attained  all  the  knowledge  that  in  their  respective  times 
and  stations  it  was  possible  for  them  to  acquire,  and  who 
made  the  best  use  of  that  knowledge  for  posterity.  Bede 
preserved  for  us  the  only  materials  which  exist  for  no  incon- 
siderable nor  unimportant  portion  of  our  national  history. 
Roger  Bacon  anticipated  some  of  the  most  momentous  che- 
mical discoveries  which  were  made  in  after  ages«i  he  had  a 
clear  foresight  of  others  ;  and  it  was  in  his  then  unpublished 
writings  that  his  namesake,  the  more  celebrated,  but  not  the 
^eater  Bacon,  found  the  principles  of  that  experimental  and 
inductive  philosophy  |  distinctly  stated,  which  he  produced 
to  the  world  as  his  own  invention.  No  other  sovereign  ever 
manifested  so  earnest  a  desire  for  improving  the  moral  and 
intellectual  condition  of  his  people  as  Alfred ;  no  one  ever 
entertained  wider  or  wiser  views  of  national  defence ;  and 
modem  legislation  has  nowhere  yet  attempted  to  institute  a 
system  of  policy  for  the  prevention  of  offences,  and  the  secu- 
nty  of  persons  and  property,  so  efficacious  as  that  which  he 
established  throughout  his  kingdom. 

*  It  has  been  said  that  Ohthere's  voyage  was  made  by  the  king's  direction; 
but  the  narrative,  so  far  from  confirming  this,  contains  the  sum  of  what  he 
had  learned  in  many  expeditions.  On  one  occasion  he  says,  "  he  wished  to 
find  out  how  long  that  land  stretched  to  the  north,  or  whether  any  man 
abode  to  the  north  of  those  wastes."  Elsewhere  he  says,  "  he  went  chiefly 
looking  for  the  horse-whales  (walrusses,)  because  they  have  very  good  bone 
(ivory)  in  their  teeth."  Turner,  ii.  221,  225.  It  has  also  been  said,  not  by 
Mallet  and  Voltaire  alone,  from  whom  little  research  was  to  be  expected, 
but  by  Campltell  (i.  ,"$!).,)  on  Spelman's  alleged  authority,  that  Ohthere's  voy- 
age was  undertaken  for  the  discovery  of  a  north-east  passage  to  India.  It 
is  surprising  that  so  plain  a  statement  as  Ohthere's  can  have  been  so  egre- 
gioij^ly  misunderstooid. 

t  For  proof  of  this,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Mr.  Foster's  MahommedanisiD 
Unveiled  (vol.  ii.  pp.  312— 3I&,)  a  work  which  will  well  repay  an  attentive 
perusal. 


58  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.   II. 
FROM  THE  DEATH  OP  ALFRED  TO  THE  NORMAN  CONaUEST. 

Even  Alfred's  far-sighted  wisdom  could  not  procure  peace 
for  his  country  in  an  age  of  violence ;  hut  he  procured  for  it 
strength,  and  renown,  and  prosperity,  during  three  genera- 
tions. Upon  his  death  the  Anglo-Danes  would  soon  have 
made  themselves  lords  of  England,  if  his  son  Edward  the 
elder,  whom  he  left  to  succeed  him,  had  not  inherited  much 
of  his  father's  promptitude  and  vigour.  They  took  up  the 
cause  of  Ethelwold,  who,  as  son  of  one  of  Alfred's  elder 

„„.  brethren,  claimed  the  succession  :  they  received  him 
'  for  their  king,  expecting  thus  to  divide  the  English, 
and  subdue  one  part  by  help  of  the  other ;  but  they  were 
too  rude  or  turbulent  long  to  observe  the  respectful  conduct 
towards  him  by  which  alone  such  views  could  be  success- 
fully pursued ;  and  Ethelwold  gathering  a  piratical  force  put 
to  sea,  and  finding  allies  among  the  Northmen  who  had  es- 
tablished themselves  in  France,  returned  with  a  great  fleet, 

Q„.     landed  in  Essex,  which  he  subdued,  persuaded  the 

'    East-Anglian  Danes  to  join  him ;  and  after  ravaging 

part  of  Mercia  and  of  Wessex,  and  being  pursued  by  Edward 

<j„f.  to  the  fens  in  Lincolnshire,  fell  in  a  well-contested 
*  victory  which  he  obtained  over  the  rear  of  the  king's 
retreating  army.  The  peace  with  the  Anglo-Danes  which 
followed  lasted  only  till  they  felt  themselves  strong  enough  to 
break  it ;  and  Edward  then  collected  a  fleet*  of  about  100  sail, 
with  which  to  guard  the  south-eastern  coast,  probably  against 
any  new  invasion  on  that  side.  The  Danes  thought  that  he 
had  embarked  the  greatest  part  of  his  army  in  the  fleet,  and 
that  they  might  go  plundering  whither  they  would  without 
danger;  but  Edward,  like  his  father,  kept  the  land  force  of 
the  country  always  in  readiness.  He  sent  troops  both  from 
Wessex  and  Mercia  to  pursue  them,  as  they  went  on  maraud- 

gj J     ing  from  the  Avon  to  the  Severn :  these  troops  inter- 
cepted them  on  their  return,  and  defeated  them  with 
great  slaughter ;  two  of  their  kings,  who  were  sons  of  Reg- 
ner  Lobrog,  and  ten  other  chiefs,  of  sufficient  note  to  have 
their  names  recorded,!  falling  in  the  battle. 

The  next  invasion  was  from  Armorica ;  but  it  was  by  a 

*  Sax.  Chron.  128.  This  authority  does  not  justify  Henry  (who  refers  to 
it)  in  asserting  that  Edward  constantly  liept  up  a  fleet  of  100  ships,  with 
which  he  protected  the  trade  of  his  subjects  and  maintained  the  domioion 
of  the  sea,  ii.  413. 

t  Sax.  Chron.  125—139.    Turner,  ii.  314—317. 


DANES  DEFEATED  AT  WATCHET.  89 

fleet  of  Northmen,*  not  of  the  Keltic  and  Christian  inhabit- 
ants of  that  country.  They  went  west  about,  entered  „,„ 
the  British  channel,  wasted  the  Welsh  coast,  and  land- 
ing high  up  the  Severn,  entered  Herefordshire  in  force,  and 
there  made  a  British  bishop,  Camalac  by  name,  prisoner : 
the  king  ransomed  him  for  forty  pounds.  He  was  taken  in 
a  part  of  that  country  called  Irchenfeld  if  the  men  of  that 
district  had  by  their  bravery  obtained  the  honourable  privi- 
lege,:}: that  when  the  army  was  marching  forward  against 
the  enemy,  they  were  to  form  the  avauntward,  and  in  the 
return  home  the  rereward."  On  this  occasion  they  did  not 
belie  their  renown ;  and  when  the  Northmen  would  have 
pursued  their  deveistating  career,  they,  with  the  men  of 
Hereford  (then,  it  is  supposed,  newly  founded  by  Edward) 
and  of  Gloucester,  and  of  the  nearest  burghs  or  fortified 
places,  gave  them  battle,  slew  one  of  their  leaders,  and  the 
brother  of  the  other,  put  them  to  flight,  drove  them  into  a 
wood  or  park  as  it  is  called,  and  there  beset  them,  till  they 
engaged  to  depart  from  the  realm,  and  gave  hostages  for  their 
good  faith.  The  king,  who  knew  by  his  own  experience 
and  his  father's  what  that  faith  was  worth,  took  care  to 
guard  his  side  of  the  Bristol  channel  well,  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Somersetshire  Avon  downwards ;  nevertheless  they  land- 
ed twice  with  the  intent  of  revenging  themselves  for  their 
defeat, — once  above  Watchet,  a  second  time  in  Porlock  bay. 
In  both  descents  they  were  defeated  with  great  slaughter ; 
and  the  field  of  slaughter  near  the  former  place  is  still  mark- 
ed by  three  funeral  mounds  called  Grab  barrows.§  The  re- 
mainder took  refuge  in  one  of  the  islands  in  the  channel  ;\\ 
and  there  they  remained,  probably  confined  there  by  stress  of 
weather;  but  many  of  them  died  for  want  of  food.  At  length 
they  escaped  to  the  Welsh  coast,f  far  down  the  channel,  and 
in  the  autumn  made  their  way  from  thence  to  Ireland.** 

*  Lidwiccum  they  are  called  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle.  Mr.  Ingram  has 
a  note  upon  this  word,  explaining  it:  "  the  inhabitants  of  Armorica,  now 
Bretagnc,  so  called  because  they  abode  day  and  night  in  their  ships,  from 
bi>  a  ship,  and  piccian,  to  watch  or  abide  day  and  night."  But  the  Ar- 
moricans  are  not  likely  to  have  been  designated  by  an  appellation  derived 
from  a  Teutonic  language  ;  and  the  names  of  the  two  earla  who  command- 
ed in  this  expedition  are  both  Norse. 

t  Ircinga-felda  in  the  Sax.  Chron.    Archenfeld  in  Domesday. 

i  Gibson's  Camden,  575.  §  Beauties  of  England,  xiii.  578. 

II  One  MS  of  the  Saxon  Chronicle  says  the  Flat-holms,  another  the  Steep ; 
the  latter  is  most  improbable :  and  Lundy  a  more  likely  place  of  retreat 
than  the  former. 

V  To  Dtiomodum,  or  Deomedum,  which  Mr.  Ingram  englisbes  Dimmet. 
Demetiais  evidently  meant, — the  old  appellation  for  what,  in  Camden's  time, 
was  called  West  Wales ;  and  comprehended  the  counties  of  Caermartben, 
Pembroke,  and  Cardigan.  **  Sax.  Chron.  131, 132.  Turner,  ii.319. 


60  NAVAL  HISTORY- OF  ENGLAKD. 

Once,  during  the  latter  paxt  of  Edward's  reign,  the  ijoiglo' 
Danes  invited  some  Vikingr  to  their  aid  against  hira ;  but 

qg.  they  were  defeated  at  Maldon,  and  the  king  curbed 
*  them  by  a  chain  of  fortresses,  so  judiciously  placed, 

Of,-  that  they  soon  became  inhabited  towns.  Upon  the 
death  of  this  able  king,  and  of  his  eldest  son,  Ethel- 
ward,  who  survived  him  only  a  few  days,  the  witenagemot 
chose  his  illegitimate  son  Athelstan,  then  thirty  years  of  age, 
to  succeed  him.  He  proved  the  most  successful  and  the 
most  powerful  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings  :  and  not  only  an- 
nexed Northumbria  to  his  dominions,  but  compelled  the 
Welsh  kings  and  Constantine  king  of  the  Scots  to  acknow- 
ledge his  supremacy.  This  was  no  willing  submission  on 
their  part,  and  upon  the  first  opportunity  that  seemed  favour- 
able, Constantine  threw  off  his  vassalage ;  but  Athelstan  was 

Q„ .  prepared  both  by  sea  and  land,  and  while  his  army  ra- 
'  vaged  Scotland  as  far  as  Duiifoeder  and  Wertmore,* 
his  fleet  laid  waste  the  coast  as  far  as  Caithness.  The  Scot- 
tish king  again  submitted,  with  as  little  intention  of  remain- 
ing subject  as  before,  and  with  an  exasperated  desire  of  ven- 
geance, for  which  he  formed  a  more  extensive  confederacy 
than  any  that  had  ever  before  been  brought  into  action  upon 
the  same  theatre.  The  Anglo-Danes  of  East  Anglia  and 
Northumbria  raised  their  Raven  Standard  against  the  Eng- 
lish monarch.  Eugenius,  the  royalet  of  Cumbria,  joined 
them  by  necessity  or  by  choice,  and  the  Welsh  princes  with 
alacrity.  Anlaf,  the  son  of  a  Northumbrian  king,  came  from 
Ireland,  where  he  had  obtained  a  sovereignty,  in  the  hope 
of  recovering  what  he  looked  upon  as  his  inheritance :  he 
entered  the  Humber  with  a  fleet,  which  is  said  to  have  con- 
sisted of  615  ships,  and  which  seems,  therefore,  to  have  in- 
cluded the  confederate  forces  from  Norway  and  from  the 
Baltic.  Athelstan,  on  his  part,  was  assisted  by  the  Vikingr, 
with  300  companions,  who  were  ready  to  serve  on  any  side, 
and  Rollo  sent  him  an  auxiliary  force  from  Normandy.     He 

qoQ  defeated  the  confederates  in  the  great  battle  of  Bruna- 
burgh,  in  which,  according  to  the  contemporary  poet, 
more  bodies  were  left  on  the  field  for  the  yellow-footed 
kite,  and  the  eagle,  and  the  grizzly  wolf  of  the  weald,  than 
had  fallen  under  the  edge  of  the  sword  in  any  battle  since 
the  Angles  and  Saxons  first  came  over  the  broad  sea.  Five 
of  the  eillied  kings  were  slain,  and  seven  of  the  northern 
earls.     Constantine  waa  one  among  the  slain ;  and  Athelstan 

•  Both  places  are  now  unknown.  Wertermere,  it  was  conjectured  by 
Pinkerton,  might  be  Westermere,  the  Western  Sea,  or  Prub  of  Clyde.  Pal- 
grave's  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  English  Comiaonwcalth,  i.  473- 


FIRST  TREATY  WITH  FRANCE.  61 

became  the  first  undoubted  monarch  of  England,  for  the 
Anglo-Danes  were  completely  subdued.  This  was  a  real 
conquest;  and  he  was  even  nominal  lord  of  Wales  and 
Scotland.* 

The  first  treatyf  between  France  and  England  was  made 
in  this  king's  reign,  who  engaged  therein  to  assist  his  ne- 

Ehew,  king  Louis  d'Outremer,  with  a  fleet  against  his  am- 
itious  nobles  and  Otho  the  king  of  Germany.  The  fleet, 
accordingly,  appeeired  off  the  coast  of  Flanders  as  soon  as 
Otho  passed  the  Rhine  ;  it  protected  the  maritime  cities,  and 
made  some  descents  for  the  sake  of  plunder  upon  the  enemy's 
territory.  This  expedition,  although  not  otherwise  worthy 
of  record,  is  remarkable  as  being  the  first  instance  in  „„„ 
which  an  English  fleet  put  to  sea  foi  any  purpose  re- 
lating to  the  affairs  of  the  Continent.  Hitherto,  since  there- 
treat  of  the  Romans,  there  had  been  no  political  relation  be- 
tween this  island  and  any  of  the  continental  states,  except 
that  its  fugitive  or  exiled  princes  repaired,  some  of  them  to 
France  for  an  asylum,  some  to  the  Baltic  for  the  aid  of 
those  freebooters  who  were  ready  to  engage  in  any  enter- 

firise  wherein  a  prospect  of  plunder  was  held  out.  But  Eng- 
and  had  now  made  a  great  advance  in  power  agd  in  civiliza- 
tion ;  and  Athelstan,  of  whom  it  was  said  by  the  grateful 
people,  after  the  lapse  of  many  generations,  that  a  more  just 
or  a  more  learned  king  had  never  governed  the  kingdom,  en- 
couraged commerce,  like  his  illustrious  grandfather  Alfred, 
as  the  only  means  of  keeping  up  that  naval  force  which  the 
country  needed  for  its  security  and  strength.  With  this  view 
he  established  mints  in  all  the  considerable  towns  of  Kent 
and  Wessex,  as  well  as  in  London,  enjoining  withal  that 
there  should  be  only  one  coineige  throughout  his  dominions.:^ 
And  in  order  to  raise  the  mercantile  character  by  making 
commerce  a  way  to  honour  as  well  as  to  wealth,  one  of  his 
laws  enacted,  that  a  merchant  who  made  three  voyages  over 
the  high  seas,  with  a  ship  and  cargo  of  his  own,  should  from 
thenceforth  enjoy  the  rank  and  privileges  of  a  thane.§  The 
king  of  Norway,  Harold  Harfagre,  whose  son,  Haco  the 

*  Turner  ii.  329—343.  Sax.  Cliron.  140— 14S.  Annalis  iv.  Magistrorum 
apud  O'Conor,  Rerum  Hibern.  Script,  iii.  463. 

t  C'est  le  premier  exemple  que  nous  a'ions  dans  notre  histoire,  non  seule- 
ment  d'un  ligue  offensive  entre  la  France  et  I'Angletcrre,  mais  encore  le 
premier  traite  par  Icquel  un  de  ces  deux  ctats  soil  entre  dans  les  interdts  de 
■'autre.  Jusque  la  lea  deux  roiaumes  s'etoient  regardtis  I'un  I'autre  comme 
deux  mondes  scpares,  qui  n'avoient  rien  a  d^muler  ensemble,  excepts  pour 
le  commerce,  et  qui  n'^toient,  pour  ainai  dire,  ni  amia  ni  ennemis  pour  tout 
le  reste."— P.  Daniel,  ii.  647.  edit.  1729. 

tCanciani,  Barbarwnm  Leges  Antique,  iv.  368.  Turner,  ii.  G06— 614. 
Henry,  ii.  413  tCanciani,  iv.  263 

Vol.  L  F 


62  NATAI.  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

Good,  was  intrusted  to  Athelatan,  that  under  his  care  he 
might  be  educated  in  a  more  civilized  country  than  his  own, 
sent  the  English  king  a  ship  with  a  golden  beak  and  purple 
sails,  and  fitted  up  with  its  defences  of  gilded  shields  all 
round.  In  the  selection  of  such  a  present,  Harold  probably 
considered  as  much  what  was  most  likely  to  gratify  Athel- 
stan's  inclinations,  as  what  could  most  advantageously  dis- 
play the  skill  of  the  Norwegians.* 

England  had  been  greatly  strengthened,  and  in  a  still 
greater  degree  improved,  during  the  reign  of  three  succes- 
sive kings,  who  were  equally  remarkable  for  the  wisdom  of 
their  measures,  and  for  the  vigour  with  which  they  pursued 
the  objects  of  their  steadfast  policy.  One  of  those  objects 
they  had  effected:  the  English  were  no  longer  a  divided 
people ;  throughout  the  former  kingdoms  of  the  polyarchy, 
wherever  the  population  was  English,  the  king  of  England 
was  now  not  the  nominal  merely,  but  the  real  sovereign. 
But  the  Anglo-Danes  occupied  a  large  part  of  the  land,  and 
they  had  been  conquered  too  recently  for  any  approximation 
towards  an  union ;  there  were  little,  if  any,  obstacles  of  lan- 
guage :  little,  if  any,  of  religion ;  a  great  one  in  manners ;  and 
a  greater  in  that  cherished  hatred  and  desire  of  vengeance 
which  the  recent  conversion  of  the  more  barbarous  race  had  left 

q -l  unmitigated  as  well  as  unsubdued.  Athalstan's  early 
death,  and  the  accession  of  his  brother  Edmund  the 
Elder,  at  the  inexperienced  age  of  eighteen,  afforded  them  the 
opportunity  for  which  they  longed  ;  and  at  their  invitation, 
Anlztf  sailed  a  second  time  from  Ireleind  with  a  great  arma- 
ment, and  entered  the  Humber.  The  Vikingr  possessed  in 
their  habits  and  vocation  surer  means  of  raising  and  main- 
taining a  naval  force  than  the  English  government  had  at  its 
command ;  the  young  king  who  was  totally  unprepared  at  sea, 
found  himself  also  inferior  by  land ;  and,  after  two  defeats, 
he  submitted  to  a  dishonourable  peace,  whereby  he  divided 
his  kingdom  with  Anlaf,  resigning  to  him  all  the  country 
north  of  Watling  Street,  with  the  condition,  that  whoever 
survived  should  become  monarch  of  the  whole.f  The  great 
disparity  of  age  between  them  made  this  a  favourable  condi- 
tion for  Edmund ;  and  Anlaf,  who  probably  meant  to  keep 
the  treaty  no  longer  than  till  he  could  find  an  inviting  op- 
portunity for  breaking  it,  or,  perhaps,  like  many  kings,  took 
no  care  for  any  thing  that  might  happen  after  his  own  time, 
died  in  the  ensuing  year. 

The  Vikingr  again  invaded  England  in  the  following 

♦  WilUam  of  Malmesbury,  155.  t  Turner,  ii.  366—368. 


EDWY  THE  ALL-FAIR.  63 

reign.  A  son  of  Harold  Harfagre,  Eric  by  name,  had,  after 
his  father's  death,  been  driven  from  Norway  for  his  crimes, 
having  killed  some  of  his  brothers  for  the  sake  of  their  in- 
heritance. The  fratricide  made  for  the  Orkneys ;  collected, 
as  it  was  easy  to  do,  a  predatory  force ;  and  began  to  plun- 
der along  the  coast  of  Scotland.  This  was  during  Athel- 
stan's  life ;  and  that  king,  though  he  had  assisted  his  pupil 
Haco  with  a  fleet  which  enabled  him  to  expel  Eric,  sent, 
nevertheless,  a  message  to  Eric,  now,  saying,  that  having 
been  in  strict  friendship  with  the  father,  he  desired  to  prove 
the  sincerity  of  that  friendship  by  showing  kindness  to  the 
son ;  he  invited  him,  therefore,  to  reign  as  his  vassed  in  Nor- 
thumbria.  Subjects  who  were  too  turbulent  to  live  content- 
edly under  the  government  of  Haco  the  Good,  repaired 
thither  to  join  him ;  his  inclination  accorded  well  with  theirs, 
and  he  made  it  the  amusement  of  his  summer  months  to 
pirate  upon  the  coasts  of  Scotland,  the  Hebrides,  Ireland, 
and  Wales.  Having  been  expelled  from  Northumbria,  either 
by  Edmund  or  by  the  people,  he  took  to  the  seas  again, 
again  found  adventurers  in  the  Orkneys,  was  joined  also  by 
some  Vikingr  among  the  Hebrides,  and,  after  some  descents 
upon  Ireland  and  Wales,  made  again  for  England  at  the 
commencement  of  Edred's  reign,  and  was  received  once 
more  as  their  king  by  the  restless  Northumbrians.  Edred, 
like  his  brother  Edmund,  had  succeeded  to  the  throne  in 
youth,  but  no  incapacity  had  yet  appeared  in  the  race  of 
Cerdic.  The  revolt  of  these  Anglo-Danes  exasper-  g.r. 
ated  him,  for  they  had  just  before  sworn  fidelity  to  him 
on  his  accession  :  he  marched  against  them ;  and  in  the  short 
but  destructive  war  which  ensued,*  Eric  and  five  other  sear 
kings  met  with  the  fate  which  they  deserved.  After  this 
victory,  Northumbria  was  partitioned  into  baronies  and 
counties ;  and  from  this  time  it  remained  as  inseparable  a 
part  of  the  English  monarchy  as  Kent  or  Mercia. 

During  the  short  reign  of  Edwy  the  All-Fair,  whose  tragic 
story  affords  one  of  the  finest  subjects  for  an  historical 
drama,  nothing  relating  to  naval  affairs  has  been  recorded ; 
but  in  that  of  nis  brother  and  successor,  Edgar,  more  ggq 
than  is  true.  A  charter  has  been  produced,  in  which 
he  boasts  of  having,  by  divine  assistance,  subjected  to  the 
kingdom  of  England  jdl  the  islands  of  the  ocean,  with  their 
ferocious  kings,  as  far  as  Norway,  and  the  greater  part  of 
Ireland,   and  its  noble  city  of  Dublin  :f  but  of  these  con- 

*  Turner,  ii.  359.  370—376. 

t  Ibid.  ii.  419.    Dugdale,  Monast.  i.  140. 


64  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND- 

quests,  this  charter  is  the  only  evidence  that  exists ;  and  its 
own  authenticity  seems,  therefore,  thus  to  be  satisfactorily 
disproved.  With  equal  exaggeration,  and  not  on  the  inci- 
dental falsehood  of  a  forged  instrument,  but  in  credulous 
history,  he  is  said  to  have  had  three,  and  even  four  fleets,  of 
1200  ships  each,  stationed  in  the  four  seas,  for  the  defence 
of  the  whole  island.*  One  ancient  writer  states  the  whole 
force  at  300 ;  and  even  this  would  show  a  large  increase  in 
the  course  of  half  a  century.  It  has  been  related  also,  that 
every  year,  as  soon  as  the  solemnities  of  Easter  were  over, 
he  ordered  these  ships  to  be  collected  at  their  respective 
stations ;  cruised  with  the  eastern  fleet  to  the  western  part 
of  the  island ;  and  then,  dismissing  that,  proceeded  himself 
with  the  eastern  fleet  to  the  north,  and  so  again  with  the 
northern  fleet  to  the  east,f — a  parade  of  idle  force,  in  which 
there  would  have  been  as  little  policy,  as  there  is  likelihood 
in  the  relation.  It  is  also  said  of  him,  that  he  summoned 
the  king  of  the  Scots,  the  king  of  Cumbria,  Macchus  the 
archpirate,  who  was  king  of  Anglesey  and  of  the  isles,  and 
five  other  British  kings,  to  meet  him  at  Chester,  and  there 
do  him  homage :  so  far  there  is  good  authority^  for  the  state- 
ment; and  if  Edgar's  character  were  entitled  to  respect  in 
other  points,  we  might  hope  that  later  writers  have  calumni- 
ated him,  when  they  added  to  this,§  that  ordering  them  on 
board  his  vessel,  and  taking  his  seat  at  the  prow,  he  com- 
pelled them  to  row  him  on  the  river  Dee,  in  proud  manifest- 
ation of  his  superior  power :  "  then,"  he  is  reported  to  have 
said,  "might  his  successors  account  themselves  kings  of 
England,  when  they  enjoyed  such  prerogative  of  high  and 
supreme  honour." 
Edgar  is  the  hero  of  monastic  writers,  because  he  sup- 

*  Henry,  ii.  414.    Campbell,  i.  47.    Turner,  ii.  424. 

t  William  of  Malmesbury,  185. 

X  Sax.  Chron.  160.  Selden,  ii.  1315.  "  Ego  Edgarus  totius  Albionis  Ba- 
eileus,  necnon  maritimorum  seu  insulanorum  regum  circumbabitantium, — 
titulus  ei  solennis  erat." — Ibid.  ii.  1324. 

"  Qxiin  eodem  ferme,  uses  bosce  fuisse  consilio  videtur,  in  firmando  tu- 
tandoquc  tam  oceani  quam  insuls  imperio,  quod  Germani  veteres  (quorum 
pars  et  Saxones  et  Oani)  in  civitatibus  suis  mediterraneis  tucndis  adhibere 
soliti.  Apud  eoa  enim  maxima  laus  erat  (quod  scribit  Cffisar)  quam  latis- 
simas  circum  se  vastatis  finibus  solitudines  habere ;  hoc  proprium  virtutis 
existimantes,  expuUos  agris  finitimos  cedere,  neque  quemquam  prope  se 
audere  consistere ;  simul  hoc  se  fore  tutiores  arbitrantur,  repentina;  incur- 
sionea  timore  sublato.  Itasane  iis  qui  in  Britannia  rerura  sunt  tuncpotiti, 
visum  est  latisaima  circumambientis  oceani  spatia  sua  reddere,  circum- 
navigando,  aliosque  arcendo,  veluti  ab  insulie  sive  muro,  sive  poma;rio." — 
Mare  Clansum,  Seld.  Op.  ii.  1326. 

§  William  of  Malmesbury,  170.  Holinshed,  i.  694.  Turner,  ii.  420.  Pal- 
gnve  249,250. 


CORRTTPTION  OF  ENGLISH  MANNERS.  66 

ported  the  monks  in  their  usurpations  upon  the  canons, 
havinff  indeed  made  a  covenant  with  them,  that  they  should 
defend  him  against  devils,  and  he  would  defend  them  against 
men.*  It  was  said  of  him  in  prose  and  verse,  that  no  king' 
of  England,  either  of  his  own  or  former  times,  could  be 
compared  with  him ;  and  that  ever  while  he  lived  he  dwelt 
in  peace,  wielding  all  as  pleased  himself  without  resistance, 
kings  and  earls  bowing  submissively  to  all  his  claims.f  Yet 
it  appears  that  Westmoreland  was  ravaged  during  his  ggg 
reign,  apparently  by  the  Anglo-Danes  ;4:  and  that 
Thanet-land  was  ravaged  by  his  own  orders,  perhaps  ggg 
to  punish  the  inhabitants  for  favouring  the  sea  rovers. 
Two  years  only  after  his  death,  a  piratical  squadron  at-  Qg» 
tacked  Southampton,  slew  or  carried  into  captivity 
most  of  the  inhabitants,  and  laid  waste  the  coast.  In  the  same 
year  Thanet  was  over-run  by  the  Vikingr,  and  the  county  of 
Chester  also ;  Devon,  Cornwall,  and  the  coast  of  Wales, 
were  infested  in  the  following  year ;  Dorsetshire  in  g^^ 
the  next.  A  respite  then  occurs  of  five  years,  during 
which  the  great  murrain  of  cattle  first  appeared  in  this 
island.  The  next  invaders  attacked  Watchet ;  but  here  the 
people  seem  to  have  inherited  the  spirit  of  their  fathers,  and 
defeated  them,  though  not  without  considerable  loss,  Goda, 
the  thane  of  Devonshire,  falling  in  the  battle.§  This  was 
the  only  instance  in  which  the  Danes  were  successfully 
opposed,  and  almost  the  only  one  in  which  any  vigour  was 
exerted  in  opposing  them.  For — though  it  was  said  that 
nothing  could  be  more  holy  than  Edgar's  life,  bating  certain 
vices,  and  certain  crimes  (not  of  the  lightest  die)  for  which 
he  did  penance  and  was  absolved ;  and  though  after  a  con- 
venient interval  of  time  miracles  were  worked  by  his  re- 
mains, as  if  with  a  view  to  his  canonization, — that  king  was 
a  voluptuary ;  and  under  his  reign  the  English  are  said  to 
have  become  a  corrupted  nation,  undoubtedly  in  great  mea- 
sure owing  to  his  example,  for  a  licentious  court  never  fails 
to  make  a  licentious  people.  It  is  said  that  his  intimate 
intercourse  with  foreigners  occasioned  an  importation  of 
foreign  vices;  and  that  the  English, who  till  this  time  had 
been  a  simple  and  a  sober  people,  learnt  drunkenness  from  the 
Danes,  efieminacy  from  the  Flemings,  and  from  the  Saxons 
what  is  denominated  a  disordered  fierceness  of  mind.||    The^e 

*  Turner,  ii.  418.    Spelman,  Concil.  440. 

t  William  of  Malmesbury,  187.    Sax.  Chron.  151. 

t  By  Thored,  the  son  of  Gunner.    Sax.  Cbron.  157. 

§Sax.  Chron.  165— 167. 

y  William  of  Malmesbury,  171.    Holinsbed,  i.  690. 

r2 


66  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

vices  are  not  incompatible  ;  and  for  introducing  the  corruption 
of  manners  in  which  they  took  root,  it  is  admitted  by  his 
panegyrist  that  Edgar  has  been  justly  accused.  The  splen- 
dour of  his  kingdom  died  with  him ;  the  ostentatious  strength 
in  which  he  gloried,  proved  to  be  but  a  pageant  in  the  hour 
of  need ;  and  one  voluptuous  reign  undoing  the  good  which 
had  been  effected  by  Alfred,  and  the  elder  Edward  and 
Athelstan  (three  of  the  ablest  monarchs  that  ever  reigned  in 
succession) — the  people  losing,  in  the  course  of  one  genera- 
tion, their  discipline  and  their  courage,  together  with  those 
habits  in  which  their  moral  strength  consisted,  found  them- 
selves once  more  at  the  mercy  of  a  maritime  enemy.  "  This, 
by  the  way,"  says  our  old  historian,*  "  is  noteworthy ;  that 
the  Danes  had  an  imperfect,  or  rather  a  lame  or  limping  rule 
in  this  land,  so  long  as  the  governors  were  watchful,  dili- 
gent, politic  at  home,  and  warlike  abroad ;  but  when  these 
kind  of  kings  discontinued,  and  that  the  reins  of  the  regi- 
ment fell  into  the  hands  of  a  pezzant,  not  a  puissant  prince, 
a  man  evil  qualified,  dissolute,  slack,  and  licentious,  not 
regarding  the  dignity  of  his  own  person,  nor  favouring  the 
good  estate  of  his  people,  the  Danes,  who  before  were 
coursed  from  coast  to  coast,  and  pursued  from  place  to  place, 
as  more  willing  to  leave  the  land  than  desirous  to  tarry  in 
the  same,  took  occasion  of  stomach  and  courage  to  re-enter 
this  isle ;  and  weixing  more  bold  and  confident,  more  despe- 
rate and  venturous,  spared  no  force,  omitted  no  opportunity, 
let  slip  no  advantage  that  they  might  possibly  take,  to  put 
in  practice,  and  fufly  to  accomplish  their  long  conceived 
purpose." 

But  to  suppose  that  the  Danes  had  ever  before  this  time 
entertained  any  purpose  of  conquering  England,  or  that  at 
this  time  they  entertained  it,  is  ascribing  too  much  policy  to 
them  and  to  the  age.  They  had  infested  its  coasts  at  the 
beginning  as  roving  freebooters;  then,  like  the  Angles  and 
Saxons  before  them,  had  seized  upon  portions  of  the  land ; 
and  kept  what  they  had  won,  by  main  force  at  first,  after- 
wards by  compact,  as  a  people  reduced  to  submission,  but 
too  numerous  and  perhaps  too  powerful  to  be  expelled. 
These  Anglo-Danes,  thus  denizened,  were  now  also  natives, 
difiering  in  nothing  from  the  Anglo-Saxons,  or  English  as 
they  were  then  called,  except  in  some  difference  of  dialect, 
which  was  rapidly  lessening,  and  perhaps  in  retaining  more 
predilection  for  some  of  their  heathenish  customs.  The 
Danes,  as  a  nation,  had  never  yet  engaged  in  a  national  war 

*  Holiasbed,  i.  708. 


DEFEAT  AND  DEATH  OF  BRITHNOTH.  67 

against  the  English  ;*  their  own  country  was  in  too  un- 
settled a  state  ;  they  were  busied  with  nearer  concerns ;  and 
regarded  England  only  as  a  land  which  drew  off  the  Vikingr 
of  other  countries  from  their  coast,  and  afforded  useful  occu- 
pation for  their  own  Lacklands,  who  would  have  otherwise 
been  restless  and  dangerous  at  home.  A  great  change  in 
these  relations  was  now  about  to  be  effected. 

A  Danish  force,  in  the  year  991,  plundered  Ipswich,  and 
advanced  to  Maiden.  Brithnoth,  then  ealderman  of  Essex, 
who  is  described  as  of  commanding  stature,  eloquent,  strong, 
and  always  alert  in  time  of  danger,  advanced  to  meet  them 
upon  the  first  intelligence,  and  defeated  them  with  great 
slaughter.  The  few  who  escaped  to  their  ships  carried  the 
news  of  their  loss  to  their  own  country,  and  excited  so  strong 
a  feeling  among  their  countrymen,  that  a  second  and  stronger 
expedition  was  equipped,  with  which  they  sailed  for  Black- 
water  bay ;  and  having  landed  near  the  scene  of  their  former 
defeat,  sent  a  proud  message  to  Brithnoth,  saying  they  were 
come  to  avenge  it.  Yet  it  seems  that  they  were  more  desi- 
rous of  booty  than  of  vengeance;  for  it  is  said,  that  when  the 
ealderman,  collecting  as  many  of  his  people  as  could  hastily 
be  gathered  together,  marched  ag-ainst  them  with  all  speed, 
lest  the  invaders  should,  owing  to  his  delay,  be  enabled  to 
occupy  a  single  foot's  breadth  of  the  country,  they  changed 
their  tone,  seeing  his  host  in  battle  array,  and  demanded 
gold  from  him  by  a  herald,  asking  why  they  should  wage 
war  and  slay  each  other,  when  he  might  buy  off  the  danger 
by  delivering  up  his  treasures  ?  Brithnoth  bravely  answered, 
that  "  his  treasures  were  not  so  easily  to  be  obtained,  but 
that  point  and  edge  must  detennine  between  them  in  the 
grim  game  of  war."  But  he  attempted,  with  inferior  num- 
bers, to  defend  the  passage  of  the  estuary  against  them ;  and 
fell,  with  most  of  his  followers,  in  the  attempt.  The  con- 
querors mangled  his  body,  and  carried  his  head  to  Denmark, 
there  probably,  to  make  a  drinking  cup  of  his  skull ;  and 
when  the  abbot  of  Ely  removed  the  mutilated  remains  for 
interment  to  his  church,  to  which  Brithnoth  had  been  a  dis- 
tinguished benefactor,  a  waxen  head  was  substituted.| 

After  this  victory,  the  Danes  so  miserably  harried  the 

*  Hoi  berg,  i.  99,  note  (u). 

t  Conybeare's  Illustrations  of  Anglo-Saxon  Poetry,  Ixxxviii— xcvi.  The 
contemporary  poem  on  Britbnoth's  death,  a  translation  of  which  may  be 
found  in  Mr.  Conybeare's  most  valuable  volume,  is  one  of  the  most  precious 
remains  of  Anglo-Saxon  poetry.  The  Ely  Chronicle,  an  extract  from  which 
is  there  given  in  illustration  of  that  iwem,  shows  liow  it  has  hap(iened  that 
Brithnoth'9  deAlh  is  twice  stated  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  (pp.  107. 169.)  in 
the  same  scenes  and  in  dificrent  years. 


68  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

defenceless  land, — defenceless  because  of  the  imbecility  of 
the  rulers  and  the  corruption  of  the  people, — that  king 
Ethelred  the  Unready  was  advised  by  his  council  to  buy  off 

the  invjiders.  The  men  of  Kent  had  tried  that  disgraceful 
experiment  more  than  a  century  before,  in  Ethelbert's 
reign,*  when  the  negotiation  had  failed  only  because  the 
Danes  preferred  taking  all  they  could  find,  to  receiving  what 
the  Kentish  men  were  willing  to  give.  Archbishop  Siric  is 
said  to  have  been  the  person  who  now  proposed  this  misera- 
ble expedient ;  which  no  one  would  have  been  base  enough 
to  propose,  if  he  had  not  knoAvn  that  the  king  and  the  wite- 
nagemot  would  be  pusillanimous  enough  to  entertain,  and  the 
nation  so  poor  in  spirit,  so  lost  in  character,  as  to  approve  it.-j" 
Ten  thousand  pounds  was  the  sum  which  was  voted  on  this 
occasion  to  the  enemy,  "  for  the  great  terror  which  they 
brought  upon  the  sea  coast ;"  and  this  payment  is  noticed 
by  early  writers  as  the  beginning  of  direct  taxation  in  this 
country.:}^  The  Danes  took  the  money  with  the  intention  of 
coming  for  more  as  soon  as  they  might  think  proper ;  and, 
in  justice  to  those  by  whom  the  measure  was  advised,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  they  considered  themselves  not 
as  having  purchased  peace,  but  a  respite  from  war,  and  that 
they  employed  that  respite  in  plannmg  vigorous  measures, 
and  preparing  for  them.  They  collected  all  the  serviceable 
qqg  ships  that  could  be  gathered  together  at  London,  and 
raising  a  land  force  at  the  same  time,  intrusted  the 
command  of  it  to  an  earl,  two  bishops,  and  ^Ifric  the  eal- 
derman.  Nothing  has  been  more  clezirly  proved  by  expe- 
rience in  war,  than  that  in  the  multitude  of  commanders 
there  is  danger :  in  this  instance,  the  evil  arose  not  from 
jarring  opinions,  but  from  treachery.  The  intention  was  to 
surprise  the  enemy,  who  were  again  upon  the  coast,  and  to 
surround  them  in  some  port,  by  land  and  water ;  and  this 
was  likely  to  have  succeeded,  if  jElfric  had  not  apprised  the 
Danes  of  their  danger,  and  then  deserted  to  them  the  night 
before  the  attack  was  to  have  been  made.  They  escaped, 
therefore,  with  the  loss  of  one  ship's  crew.  The  ships  nrora 
London  and  East  Anglia  met  their  fleet,  and  a  fierce  action 
ensued,  in  which  dime's  vessel  was  taken,  but  he  himself 

^  escaped ;  and  the  king,  with  a  cruelty  which  must  be  im- 
puted in  full  as  great  a  degree  to  his  own  cowardly  nature 
as  to  the  barbeirity  of  the  age,  took  vengeance  upon  him  by 

*  See  p.  43. 

tSax.  Chron.  167.    William  of  Malmesbury,  193.    Turner,  ii.  463. 

I  Turner,  ii.  464.    PontanuB,  139. 


EARLV  HISTORY  OF  8WEYNE.  69 

pntling  out  the  eyes  of  his  son.*  After  this,  iElfric  fei^ed 
repentance,  and  was  pardoned  ;  and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
he  then  avenged  himself  by  a  second  treason. 

Treason,  indeed,  had  now  become  common,  as  it  ever  will 
in  times  of  anarchy  or  misrule,  and  more  especially  where 
national  differences  are  still  preserved  in  full  force  among  the 
people.  Bebbanburh  (now  Bamborough)  was  plundered  and 
destroyed  by  the  Vikingr  :  their  fleet  then  entered  the  Hum- 
ber,  and  ravaged  the  land  on  both  sides ;  the  people  nqo 
gathered  together  to  defend  themselves;  but  their 
three  commanders  were  of  Danish  blood,  f  and,  at  the  mo- 
ment of  joining  battle,  they  set  the  example  of  flight.  At  no 
former  time  had  England  been  so  feebly  defended  nor  so  for- 
midably attacked ;  for  the  king  of  Denmark,  Svend-Otto  of 
the  forked  beard,  the  Sweyne  of  English  history,  who  from 
the  commencement  of  his  reign  had  encourziged  the  piratical 
expeditions  against  this  island,  came  now  in  person  to  take 
part  in  them.  In  the  course  of  his  adventurous  life  he  had 
been  driven  from  his  kingdom  by  Eric  of  Sweden,  and  fled 
hither  as  to  a  place  of  refuge ;  but  Edgar  had  refused  to  har- 
bour him,  suspecting,  it  is  said,  that  his"  flight  was  simulated, 
and  that  his  real  purpose  was  to  spy  the  weakness  of  the 
land.  The  suspicion  was  false,  though  the  faithless  and 
ambitious  character  of  Sweyne  might  well  give  rise  to  it;  he 
then  repaired  to  Scotland,  where  he  was  hospitably  enter- 
tained, till,  upon  Eric's  death,  he  was  enabled  to  return  to 
and  to  recover  his  kingdom.  He  had  abjured  Christieuiity 
in  his  youth,  that  by  the  help  of  the  heathen  party  he  might 
make  war  upon  his  father  and  dethrone  him :  during  his 
abode  in  Scotland  he  became  again  a  Christian  in  profession, 
perceiving  that  heathenism  had  become  the  weaker  side ;  but 
he  had  not  forgotten  his  repulse  at  Edgar's  court,  and  the 
desire  of  revenging  himself  upon  the  people  of  England  upon 
that  score,  is  said  to  have  been  the  motive  which  induced 
him  first  to  encourage  the  Vikingr  in  their  expeditions,  and 
now  to  join  with  them.:!: 

He  was  impelled,  also,  by  a  mixed  motive  of  honour  and 
of  barbarous  piety.  His  father,  Harald  Blaatand,  had  fallen 
in  the  war  which  Sweyne,  with  the  aid  of  a  heathen  party, 
waged  against  him;  nevertheless,  this  son  performed  ob- 
sequies to  the  parent  whom  he  had  dethroned  and  slain,  and 
the  ceremonies  are  strikingly  characteristic  of  Scandinavian 

*  Sax.  Chron.  168.    William  of  Malniesbury,  194. 
t  Sax.  Chron.  169.      Turner,  ii. 466. 
t  Pontanua,  138—140.    Holberp,  i.  97. 


70  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

manners  and  feelings.  He  invited  to  the  feast, — for  such  it 
was, — the  Jarl  Sigvalld,  and  Bui  the  Thickset,  and  their  bro- 
thers, of  the  newly  founded  republic  of  Jonisburg,  that  they 
might  make  potations  in  honour  of  their  father  at  the  same 
time.  They  came  with  the  bravest  of  their  people,  in  forty 
ships  from  Vindland,  and  twenty  from  Scania.  Great  mul- 
titudes assembled  :  on  the  first  day  of  the  solemnities, 
Sweyne,  before  he  ascended  the  throne,  drank  a  capacious 
cup  of  strong  drink  filled  to  the  brim,  to  tlie  sacred  memory 
of  the  late  king  his  father ;  and  then  he  made  a  vow,  that  be- 
fore three  years  should  have  elapsed  he  would  invade  Eng- 
land, and  either  slay  king  Ethelred,  or  dispossess  him  of  the 
throne,  and  drive  him  into  exile.  The  guests  who  had  been 
invited  pledged  him  in  that  same  cup.  A  second  then  went 
round  in  memory  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour, — so  awfully  were 
things  sacred  and  profane  blended  ! — and  a  third  to  the  arch- 
angel St.  Michael.  Jarl  Sigvalld,  next  in  order,  drank  to  his 
father's  memory;  and  made,  in  like  manner,  a  vow  that 
within  three  years  he  would  invade  Norway,  and  either  slay 
Jarl  Haco,  or  expel  him  from  the  land.  Thorkell  the  Tall 
vowed  that  he  would  accompany  his  brother  Sigvalld,  and 
never  forsake  him,  in  this  adventure.  Bui  the  Thickset 
swore  to  the  same  effect ;  and  Vagn  Akason  vowed  that  he 
would  go  with  them,  and  not  return  till  he  had  slain  Thor- 
kell Leira,  and  taken  his  daughter  Ingibiorga  for  a  concubine, 
without  asking  the  consent  of  her  kin.  The  Vikingr  of  Joms- 
burg  confessed,  on  the  following  morning,  when  they  were 
sober,  that  they  had  vowed  greater  things  than  were  expedi- 
ent ;  but  they  resolved  that  for  that  reason  it  was  necessary 
to  undertake  the  performance  without  delay.  The  fulfilment 
of  Sweyne's  vow  was  delayed  much  longer,  but  the  time  was 
now  at  length  come  for  carrying  it  into  effect.* 

The  sea  king,  with  whom  he  now  united  his  forces,  was 
a  Norwegian,  Anlaf  or  Olaf  by  name.  They  sailed  up  the 
Thames  with  ninety-four  ships,  and  appeared  before  London 
on  the  festival  of  the  Virgin  Mary's  nativity ;  they  made  a 
qq  -  fierce  attack  upon  the  city,  and  endeavoured  to  set  it 
*  on  fire ;  "  but  they  suffered,"  says  the  Chronicle,f 
"  more  harm  and  ill  than  they  ever  thought  any  towns-peo- 
ple could  have  done  them ;  for  the  holy  Mother  of  God,  in 
her  mild-heartedness,  on  that  day  considered  those  towns- 
people, and  they  rid  themselves  of  their  enemies."  But  the 
protection  of  the  tutelary  Queen  of  Angels  was  vouchsafed 
only  on  her  own  day,  and  extended  only  to  that  place !     No 

*  Bnorre,  Antiq.  CeltoScand.  76—78.  t  Sax.  Chron.  170. 


THE  DANES  LAND  AT  WATCHET.  71 

ther  people  imitated  tiie  brave  example  of  the  Londoners 
The  fleet  turned  back,  indeed,  from  London ;  but  it  was  only 
\x)  "  wreak  the  greatest  ill  that  any  host  could  do,"  in  burning-, 
and  plundering,  and  slaughtering,  not  only  on  the  Kent  and 
Essex  shores,  but  in  Sussex  and  in  Hampshire ;  and  then 
they  took  horse,  scoured  the  country  far  and  wide,  and  com- 
mitted "  unspeakable  damage,"  till  the  king,  with  the  ad- 
vice of  his  base  counsellors,  sent  to  offer  them  tribute  and 
provision  for  the  winter,  and  to  ask  with  what  sum  they 
would  be  satisfied.  They  consented  to  accept  sixteen  thou- 
sand pounds  in  money ;  and  going  to  Southampton,  took  up 
their  winter  quarters  there,  and  were  fed  by  the  people  of 
Wessex.  As  their  force  is  computed  not  to  have  exceeded 
10,000  men,  it  has  been  suspected  that  there  was  more  of 
treachery  than  of  cowardice  in  the  king's  council,  and  that 
some,  who  were  of  Danish  blood,  had  already  formed  a  de- 
sign of  transferring  the  throne  to  a  Danish  dynasty.  The 
fact,  that  the  whole  burden  of  supporting  these  invaders  was 
thrown  upon  a  part  of  the  country  where  the  people  were 
purely  English,  instead  of  requiring  that  they  should  quarter 
themselves  among  the  Anglo-Danes,  may  seem  to  corrobo- 
rate this  suspicion.* 

Disgraceful  as  this  transaction  was,  it  was  the  means  of 
converting  an  active  enemy  into  a  friend.  Olaf  had,  proba- 
bly, manifested  a  wish  to  be  instructed  in  the  Christian  re- 
ligion; for  bishop  iElfeah  and  the  ealderman  Ethel werd, 
were  sent  to  accompany  him  from  Southampton  to  Andover, 
where  Ethelred  then  held  his  court,  leaving  hostages  in  the 
fleet  for  his  safe  return.  He  was  then  baptized,  the  king 
being  his  sponsor,  thus  adopting  him  as  his  son,  according 
to  the  usage  of  that  age ;  and  he  promised  that  he  never  again 
would  come  to  England  but  as  a  friend,  which  promise,  the 
Chronicle  observes,  he  kept,f — an  observation  that  shows 
how  little  reliance  was  placeo  on  the  word  of  a  Northman. 
But  the  money  which  had  been  paid  to  king  Sweyne  pur- 
chased only  a  respite  of  two  years.  The  Danes  then  entered 
the  Bristol  channel,  plundering  the  coast  on  both  sides ; 
landed  once  more  at  Watchet,  and  wreaked  their  old  hatred 
there  with  fire  and  sword  ;  then,  turning  back,  and  rounding 
the  Land's  End,  they  coasted  the  south  of  Cornwall  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Tamar,  ascended  that  river,  spoiled  Lydford, 

.   *Sax.  Chron.  170. 171.       Turner,  ii.  467. 

t  Sax.  Cbron.  171.  Acta  Sanctorum,  Jul.  vii.  93.  Camden,  therefore,  is 
ivrong  in  stating  that  "  this  league  of  friendship  was  soon  broice,  for  so 
ercat  a  respect  and  honour  could  not  restrain  that  barbarous  foreigner  (Voip 
gig  usual  rapines,"  (p.  117.) 


72  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

997,  burnt  the  minister  at  Tavistock,  and  returned  with 
a  rich  booty  to  their  ships.  In  the  ensuing  year  they 
99^*  entered  Poole  harbour,  and  stationing  their  fleet  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Frome,  ravaged  Dorsetshire.  Forces  were 
often  collected  to  oppose  them,  but  whenever  they  were 
about  to  join  battle,  some  irresolution  appeared,  whether 
arising  from  the  apprehension  of  treachery  in  their  leaders, 
distrust  of  their  courage  or  conduct,  or  that  fear  which  a  suc- 
cession of  defeats  may  bring  even  upon  brave  men ;  and  the 
invaders  were  always  victorious.  Another  time  they  made 
the  Isle  of  Wight  their  quarters,  and  purveyed  for  them- 
selves in  Hampshire  and  Sussex.  The  seas,  which  since 
England  became  a  great  maritime  power,  have  secured  it 
against  all  foreign  enemies,  served  in  those  unhappy  ages, 
only  to  expose  it  on  all  sides  to  predatory  invasion ;  and  the 
invaders  having  now  learnt  to  despise  a  divided  people,  a 
feeble  government,  and  a  pusillanimous  king,  SEiiled  up  the 
rivers  at  their  will,  and  penetrated  into  the  country  whither- 
soever they  would.* 
qqq  Next  year  they  came  again  into  the  Thames,  enter- 
ed the  Medway,  and  defeated  the  men  of  Kent  near 
Rochester,  because  the  English  had  not  the  support  which 
they  ought  to  have  had.  Then,  taking  horse,  they  overran 
that  country.  The  king  and  his  council  determined  to  act 
against  them  now  by  sea  and  land ;  ships  were  collected  and 
manned,  but  the  chiefs  were  neither  so  ready  nor  so  faithful  as 
the  men :  from  day  to  day  some  reason  for  delay  was  found 
in  the  irresolution,  the  discordant  opinions,  or  the  treachery 
of  Ethrelred's  wretched  counsellors  ;  and  when  they  acted, 
the  enemy  always  received  such  timely  intelligence,  that 
they  were  never  to  be  found  where  they  were  sought.  Thus, 
says  the  Saxon  chronicler,  these  sea-armaments  and  land-ar- 
maments served  for  nothing  but  to  harass  the  people  and  waste 
their  means,  and  strengthen  their  enemies.  The  treason  by 
which  all  the  efforts  of  the  people  in  their  own  defence  were 
frustrated,  is  explained  by  the  great  intermixture  which  by 
this  time  had  taken  place  both  with  "  the  Danes  and  Britons, 
who  were  like  enemies  to  the  English  ;"f  there  being  few, 
it  is  said,  either  of  the  nobles  or  commons  who  were  not,  in 
some  degree,  connected  with  them.  This,  however,  though 
highly  dangerous,  could  never  have  produced  such  general 
evil,  imless  the  misrule  and  consequent  anarchy  had  been  so 
great  that  men  felt  themselves  discharged  from  all  responsi- 
bility to  such  a  government,  and  regarded  only  their  own  in- 

*  Sax.  Chron.  173.    Turner,  ii.  468, 46d.  f  Holingbed,  L  708. 


TEIGNTON  BURNT.  73 

terest  or  their  own  safety.  A  year's  interval  recurred  ;  .„„q 
the  Vikingr,  as  if  to  leave  England  fallow  for  that 
season,  having  directed  their  course  against  Normandy,  and 
Sweyne  being  engaged  in  war  with  the  king  of  Norway. 
Elhelred  employed  this  interim,  not  in  preparing  against  the 
certain  renewal  of  their  hostilities,  but  in  wasting  Cumber- 
land with  an  army,  and  the  Isle  of  Man  wifh  a  fleet.*  The 
enemy  returned  in  the  ensuing  year,  landed  at  Hampshire, 
and  advanced  to  ^thelinga-dene,  now  Alton,  ravaging  .  «^ , 
all  before  them.  There  they  were  encountered  by  such 
a  local  force  as  could  hastily  be  brought  together.  On  the 
part  of  its  leaders  there  could  have  been  no  trezichery  ;  for 
Ethel  ward  and  Leofwin,  who  were  two  of  the  king's  high 
gerefas,  fell,  and  three  other  persons  of  such  distinction  that 
their  names  were  recorded.  But  the  people  must  either  have 
been  wanting  in  numbers  or  in  heart ;  for  after  losing  little 
more  than  fourscore  men,  they  left  the  Danes  in  possession 
of  the  field,  though  the  conquerors,  it  is  affirmed,  had  suffer- 
ed much  greater  loss.  The  conquerors  proceeded  westward 
without  opposition,  and  on  the  Devonshire  coast  they  were 
joined  by  another  fleet  of  freebooters,  collected  by  Palligf 
?probably  some  Vikingr,)  on  whom  Ethelred  had  bestowea 
domains  and  gold  and  silver,  for  the  sake  of  securing  his  ser- 
vices, but  who,  with  piratical  contempt  of  faith,  broke  all  the 
promises  and  oaths  which  he  had  made.ij: 

They  now  burnt  Teignton,  and  more  goodly  towns  than 
the  chronicler  could  name ;  till  the  inhabitants,  finding  they 
were  not  spared,  because  they  offered  no  resistance,  made 
peace  with  them  :  which  means,  that  they  compounded  for 
their  own  safety,  without  any  reference  to  their  inefficient 
government.  Another  force  had  now  been  employed  under 
two  of  the  king's  gerefas,  but  this  was  defeated  and  put  to 
flight  at  Pinhoe.  The  victorious  Danes  turned  eastward  then, 
and,  quartering  themselves  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  compelled 
the  people  of  the  zidjacent  country,  by  fire  and  sword,  to  make 
terms  with  them.  When  the  counties  were  thus  treat-  ,  ^^^ 
ing  for  themselves,  the  king  and  his  council  might 

*  Meenige,  Sax.  Chron.  173.  Mr.  Ingram  interprets  this  Anglesea,  but  I 
believe  it,  with  Mr.  Turner,  to  have  been  the  other  Mona,  as  the  much 
more  likely  place.  Cressy  also  so  interprets  it ;  '•  for  that  island  was  es- 
teemed by  the  Danes  a  secure  nest,  whither  on  all  occasions  they  might 
safely  retire  and  lay  up  their  spoils."— CA.  Hist,  of  Eng.  p.  904.  And  here 
Cressy,  as  usual,  follows  F.  Alford.  Annates  Eccl.  Anglicante,tom.  iii.  p.  426. 

t  Perhaps  this  is  the  person  whom  William  of  Malmesbury  calls  Palling, 
whose  wife  Gunbilda,  the  sister  of  Sweyne,  came  with  him  to  England,  and 
by  embracing  Christianity  made  herself  a  pledge  of  the  Danish  peace  ;  and 
with  her  husband  and  his  son  was  murdered  in  the  massacre. 

t  Sax.  Chron.  173, 174. 

Vol,.  I.  G 


74  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

easily  make  themselves  believe  that  it  would  be  not  less  a 
prudent  than  a  popular  measure  once  more  to  purchase  peace 
for  the  nation.     The  ealderman  Leofsige  was  the  negotiator 
on  this  occasion ;  and  the  Danes  consented,  on  condition  of 
receiving  24,000/.,  and  being  moreover  supplied  with  provi- 
sions, to  desist  from  their  ravages.    That  the  Danes  would 
soon  have  rep6*ed  their  visits,  their  devastations  and  their 
exactions  is  what  the  experience  of  such  transactions  renders 
certain ;  but  they  were  prevented  now  by  an  act  of  greater 
perfidy  and  more  atrocious  wickedness  than  they  themselves, 
wicked  and  perfidious  as  they  were,  had  ever  committed  or 
imagined ;  for,  upon  a  pretext  that  they  intended  to  kill  him 
and  his  council,  and  make  themselves  masters  of  the  king- 
dom, Ethelred  issued  secret  orders  for  the  well  known  and 
never  to  be  forgotten  massacre  of  all  the  Danes  in  England.* 
The  Seixon  chronicler,  in  whose  time  this  massacre  occur- 
red, f  seems  to  accredit  the  plea  that  it  was  a  preventive  mea- 
sure ;  and  if  any  inference  might  here  be  drawn  from  the 
silence  of  one  who  so  briefly  recorded  passing  events,  it  would 
appear  that  he  felt  no  shame  for  the  baseness,  no  indignation 
at  the  cowardly  inhumanity,  no  horror  for  the  guilt  of  such 
an  expedient.     Even  if  that  plea  were  not,  as  must  be  sus- 
pected, a  mere  pretext, — even  if  the  Danish  chiefs  had  form- 
ed the  intention  which  was  imputed  to  them,  it  would  afford 
no  excuse  for  such  means  of  prevention.     It  may  be  hoped, 
and  indeed  believed,  that  the  accursed  circumstances  which 
Danish  historians  have  repeated,  are  only  such  exaggerations 
as  the  event  was  likely  to  occasion ;  but  it  is  certain  that 
women  and  children  were  not  spared,  the  intent  being  to  ex- 
tirpate the  Danes  in  England.     More  than  any  other  event 
in  English  history  this  must  be  deemed  a  national  sin,  be- 
cause it  was  so  widely  carried  into  execution  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  nation  were  not  only  consenting  to  it,  but  actually 
engaged  in  it.    It  was  a  national  sin  of  the  blackest  character, 
and,  as  such,  it  was  punished  by  national  judgments,  the 
heaviest  of  their  kind  for  the  then  existing  generations ;  yet 
so  directed  by  that  almighty  and  all-merciful  Providence, 
which,  in  its  omniscience,  ordereth  all  things  for  the  best,  as 
to  produce  great  and  abiding  good  for  future  times.    In  little 
more  than  the  course  of  threescore  years  the  people  who  had 
contracted  this  guilt  were  twice  brought  under  the  dominion 
of  a  foreign  king ;  their  princes  were  driven  into  exile ;  their 

*  Sax.  Chron.  174—176. 

t  So  Mr.  Ingrain  infers  from  tbe  text,  in  whicb,  only  seven  yean  Iftter,  tlie 
present  tense  is  used. 


BWEYNE  INVADES  ENGLAND.  T5 

nobles  slain  in  the  field,  or  put  to  death  as  subjects  who  had 
rebelled  against  their  liege  lord ;  their  churches  were  filled 
Vith  foreign  prelates  and  monks;  their  land  was  divided 
among  the  conquerors ;  their  laws  were  enacted  and  admi- 
nistered in  a  foreign  tongue ;  and  their  very  language  was 
disused,  not  in  their  laws  alone,  but  in  their  religious  cere- 
monies, till,  long  after,  it  had,  in  process  of  time,  melted  into 
a  composite  speech  with  that  of  their  Norman  masters. 

The  folly  of  this  atrocious  measure  was  as  enormous  as 
its  wickedness.  For,  if  it  had  been  carried  into  effect  with 
the  most  remorseless  resolution,  so  large  a  part  of  the  popu- 
lation was  at  that  time  Danish,  that,  even  in  England,  the 
Deines  must  have  been  weakened  in  a  much  less  degree  than 
they  were  exasperated ;  and  their  countrymen  were  a  formi- 
dable nation,  masters  of  the  sea,  and  witii  an  able  and  active 
sovereign  at  their  head.  Wherever  the  people  ventured  to 
obey  the  execrable  orders  of  their  government,  they  seem 
not  to  have  shrunk  from  the  crimes  which  were  required  at 
their  hands ;  but  as  no  struggle  is  recorded,  it  must  be  in- 
ferred that  no  attack  was  made  in  any  part  of  the  country 
where  resistance  was  to  be  expected.  Sweyne  was  .  „j^o 
soon  upon  the  coast,  thirsting  now  more  for  vengeance 
than  ever  before  for  booty.     His  sister,  Gunhilda,  had  been 

Eut  to  death,  with  her  husband  and  son,  in  the  presence  and 
y  command  of  Edric  Streone,  who  has  left  the  most  infa- 
mous name  in  Anglo-Saxon  history.  Brotherly  feeling  may 
have  had  little  influence  upon  one  who  had  shown  no  sense  of 
filial  duty;  but  no  additional  excitement  was  needed,  or 
could  indeed  be  felt,  incensed  as  he  and  his  people  justly 
were  to  the  highest  degree.  The  first  year  he  ravaged  De- 
vonshire, Dorsetshire,  and  Wiltshire  without  resistance ;  the 
next  he  caine  with  his  ships  to  Norwich,  and  burnt  ,  j^„ . 
the  town.  Ulfkytel,  who  commanded  in  East  Anglia, 
agreed  with  the  other  chiefs,  that  seeing  the  enemy  had  come 
upon  them  unawares,  before  he  had  had  time  to  gather  his 
forces,  it  was  better  to  purchase  peace  with  them  before  they 
did  too  much  harm  in  the  land.  The  Danes  would  now  have 
deserved  more  reproach  for  seriously  listening  to  such  a  pro- 
posal, than  for  entertaining  it  only  with  the  view  of  taking 
vengeance  the  more  securely.  While  they  amused  him,  as 
they  thought,  with  negotiating  upon  the  terms,  they  made  a 
secret  march  upon  Thetford ;  but  he,  too,  was  on  the  alert, 
gathered  his  forces  as  secretly  as  he  could,  and  sent  orders 
to  destroy  their  ships.  That  attempt  failed ;  for  they  had 
not  left  them  unprotected.  Having  plundered  and  burnt 
Thetford  (then  a  populous  and  famous  place,  but  which  has 


76  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

never  recovered  its  former  prosperity,)  after  a  night  emplojr- 
•ed  in  havoc,  the  Danes  set  out  in  the  morning  to  return  to 
■their  fleet.  Ulfkytel  intercepted  them ;  and  so  brave  a  bat- 
tle ensued,  that,  if  his  whole  force  had  been  collected,  the 
enemy  would  never  have  effected  their  retreat.  They  con- 
fessed that  they  never  had  met  with  "  worse  hand-play"  in 
England  than  what  Ulfkytel  then  brought  them.  But  their 
numbers  gave  them  the  victory,  and  many  of  his  veteran 
East  Anglians  fell.* 

.  ^„r  The  next  season  brought  with  it  a  severe  famine, 
'  which  seems  for  that  year  to  have  rid  the  country  of 
T  nnfi  *^^  Danes.  On  the  following  they  returned  to  pro- 
secute their  just  vengeance,  landed  at  Sandwich,  and 
spoiled,  burned,  and  slaughtered  wherever  they  went.  The 
whole  population  of  Wessex  and  Mercia  were  ordered  out 
to  oppose  them,  and  even  lay  under  arms  during  the  harvest : 
but  it  is  said  that  this  availed  as  little  as  it  had  often  done 
before ;  that  the  enemy  went  whither  they  would  ;  and  that 
the  people  suffered  more  from  being  kept  in  the  field  than 
they  would  have  done  in  battle.  After  Martinmas,  the  Danes 
returned  to  their  quarters  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  providing 
themselves  by  plunder :  in  winter  they  went  into  Berkshire, 
as  to  their  ready  farm,  says  the  chronicler ;  lighting,  accord- 
ing to  custom,  their  camp  beacons  as  they  went ;  that  is  to 
say,  marking  their  way  by  flames.  A  force  was  brought 
against  them  at  Kennet,  and  defeated  there ;  and  they  turned 
back  to  their  quarters  with  their  booty.  "  Then  might  the 
people  of  Winchester  see  them  passing  their  gates,  and 
fetching  their  food  and  plunder  over  an  extent  of  fifty  miles 
from  the  sea  coast."  Ethelred,  who  seems  to  have  taken 
shelter  in  the  centre  of  the  kingdom,  as  if  the  safest  place 
were  that  w-hich  was  farthest  from  the  sea,  once  more  took 
council  with  advisers  who  were  as  base  as  himself,  and  once 
more  they  concluded  that  their  only  resource  was  once  more 
to  offer  tribute. '  The  Danes  accepted  36,000/.,  and  the  Eng- 
lish were  again  compelled  to  feed  them."f 

That  money  purchased  two  years'  respite.  During  the 
first  the  government  could  exact  nothing  more  from  its 
exhausted  subjects :  in  the  second,  it  called  upon  them  to 
build  and  present  a  ship  from  every  310  hides  of  land,  and 
from  every  eight  hides  to  furnish  a  helmet  and  breast-plate. 

*  Sax.  Chron.  176—178. 

t  Sax.  Chron.  181.  Turner,  ii.477.  The  printed  Chronicle  says,  30,000/. 
Manuscripts  and  most  ancient  authorities  make  it  36,000/.  The  smaller 
sum,  according  to  Mr.  Palgrave  (Hist,  of  England,  i.  291.)  was  the  worth  of 
730,000  acres  of  land. 


8HIP-M0NEY.  77 

This  i3  the  remotest  precedent  that  has  been  discovered  for 
the  tax  of  ship-money  :  according  to  the  best  calculation,  it 
would  have  produced  nearly  800  ships,  and  have  armed  more 
than  30,000  men.  In  the  third  year  they  were  ready ;  and 
"  the  book  tells  us  that  never  before  were  so  many  .  „^q 
ships  gathered  together  in  England  in  any  king's 
days."  All  were  brought  round  to  Sandwich,  "  that  they 
might  lie  there,  and  defend  the  land  against  any  out-force." 
If  such  were  indeed  the  arrangement,  and  this  whole  formi- 
dable fleet  was  collected  at  one  point,  instead  of  being  sta- 
tioned in  different  parts  for  the  defence  of  a  coast  which  was 
every  where  attacked,  the  writers  of  that  age  might  well 
complain  of  treason  in  the  king's  councils.  But,  before 
Sweyne  could  profit  by  this  disposition,  the  naval  prepara- 
tions of  the  English  had  ended  in  bringing  upon  themselves 
more  confusion,  loss,  consternation,  and  disgrace.  There 
was  a  feud  at  this  time  between  two  chiefs,  Brihtric,  bro- 
ther of  the  notorious  traitor  Edric,  and  Child  Wulfnoth, 
father  of  the  not  less  notorious  earl  Godwin.  The  former 
preferred  an  accusation  against  the  latter;  and  Wulfnoth, 
though  he  is  said  to  have  been  unjustly  accused,  justified  the 
accusation  by  his  conduct;  for  he  deserted  with  twenty 
ships,  commenced  pirate,  plundered  the  south  coast,  and 
though  it  was  his  own  country,  wrought  every  kind  of  mis- 
chief there.  Brihtric  was  despatched  against  him  with 
eighty  sail,  thinking  to  take  him  alive  or  dead.  The  fleet 
was  driven  ashore  by  a  tremendous  storm  ;  and  Wulfnoth 
soon  came  and  burnt  it,  where  it  lay  stranded.  When  this 
news  came  to  the  king,  he  and  his  ealdermen  and  nobles  are 
said  to  have  regarded  all  as  lost,  and  to  have  forsaken  the 
remainder  of  the  ships,  which  were  then  brought  back  to 
London,  and  all  thought  of  naval  defence  was  abandoned.* 
Thus  lightly,  says  the  chronicler,  did  they  let  the  labour  of 
all  the  people  go  to  waste  ! 

Presently,  as  if  they  had  waited  only  for  this  dispersion, 
the  Danes  came  to  Sandwich.  Thurkill  was  the  commander 
of  this  army,  and  it  was  known  by  his  name.  They  would 
have  stormed  Canterbury,  if  the  people  of  East  Kent  had 
not  purchased  a  respite  for  3000/. ;  then  they  made  for  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  and  from  their  old  head-quarters  ravaged 
Hampshire,  Berkshire,  and  Sussex.  The  whole  country 
was  called  upon  to  arm  and  act  against  them  on  all  sides ; 

•Sax.  Chron.  182.  It  may  fairly  be  inferred  from  hence,  that  the  assess- 
ment had  not  produced  the  calculated  number  of  ships;  but  that  the  100 
sail  which  were  lost  -by  desertion  and  by  this  destruction  were  a  very  con- 
siderable part  of  the  armament. 

q2 


78  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

yet  nowhere  did  they  meet  with  any  effectual  resistance. 
Once,  when  the  king  might,  with  a  good  force,  have  inter- 
cepted them  when  laden  with  booty,  the  traitor  Edric  frus- 
trated his  purpose.  At  the  fall  of  the  leaf  they  stationed 
themselves  for  the  winter  upon  the  Thames,  and  they  often 
attacked  London ;  but  the  annalist,  who  perhaps  had  his 
dwelling  there,  exclaims,  "  Glory  be  to  God,  that  it  yet 
standeth  firm,  and  they  always  meet  with  evil  fare  there  !" 
They  crossed  the  Chiltem  hills  during  the  winter,  burnt 
Oxford,  and  plundered  on  both  sides  of  the  river  downward 
from  thence  to  Staines.  Then  avoiding  the  force  which  the 
Londoners  had  gathered  against  them,  they  continued  their 
imn    destructive  movement  till  the    spring,    when    they 

returned  into  Kent,  and  there  repaired  their  ships. 
They  sailed  next  for  the  eastern  coast,  entered  the  Orwell, 
and,  landing  at  Ipswich,  went  in  search  of  Ulfkytel,  to 
revenge  themselves  for  the  victory  over  him,  which  had 
cost  them  so  dear.  In  this  battle  they  had  their  revenge ; 
for  the  East  Anglians  soon  fled ;  and  though  the  men  of 
Cambridge  stood  firm,  many  good  thanes  and  a  multi- 
tude of  the  people  fell,  and  the  invaders  remained  masters 
of  the  field  and  of  the  country.  They  soon  mounted  them- 
selves, so  as  to  have  East  Anglia  at  their  will ;  entered  the 
fens,  slaying  men  and  cattle,  and  burnt  Thetford  and  Cam- 
bridge. One  part  went  southward,  then  toward  the  Thames ; 
the  others  to  their  fleet.  They  are  spoken  of  next  as  enter- 
ing Oxfordshire,  then  Buckinghamshire,  and  so  along  the 
Ouse  to  Bedford  and  Teraisford,  where  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Irwell  and  the  Ouse,  the  vestiges  of  a  camp*  and  the 
remains  of  a  castle  long  continued  to  mark  their  winter- 
quarters.  Meantime,  whether  imbecility,  or  cowardice,  or 
treachery  prevailed  in  Ethelred's  council,  the  effect  was  the 
same :  his  levies  were  either  disbanded  at  the  time  when 
their  services  were  most  needed,  or  they  were  in  the  west 
when  the  enemy  was  in  the  east,  and  when  the  enemy  was 
in  the  south  they  were  in  the  north.  All  the  king's  coun- 
sellors were  summoned  to  advise  how  the  country  might  be 
defended  ;  but  no  plan  was  persisted  in  longer  than  for  a  few 
months,  and  at  length,  the  annalist  says,  there  was  not  a 
chief  who  would  collect  a  force ;  each  fled  as  he  could,  and 
no  shire  would  stand  by  another,  f 
*Q, .         Under  such  circumstances,  Ethelred  and  his  Witan 

might  easily  persuade  themselves  that  their  only  re- 
source was  to  purchase  another  interval  of  rest,  and  that 

*  Camden,  388.  t  ^a>-  Ctaron.  183—186. 


CANTERBURY    STORMED.  79 

composition  might  be  made  upon  better  terms  by  the  govern- 
ment, than  by  each  part  of  the  kingdom  compoundmg  for 
itself.  At  this  time  sixteen  counties  had  been  overrun.* 
"  All  these  misfortunes,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  fell  upon  us 
through  ill  counsel ;"  that  they  would  neither  offer  tribute 
in  time,  nor  fight  in  time ;  but  when  most  mischief  had  been 
done,  then  they  made  terms  with  the  enemy.  And  notwith- 
standing these  terms,  and  the  promised  peace  and  amity  for 
which  the  tribute  was  paid,  the  Danes  went  every  where  iu 
troops,  plundering,  and  spoiling,  and  slaughtering  our  mise- 
rable people."  Hitherto,  the  Danes  had  generally  kept  such 
treaties  faithfully  ;t  and  this  was  said  to  be  their  only  vir- 
tue ;  occasional  infractions  being  rather  imputed  to  indepen- 
dent freebooters  than  to  the  nation.  But  they  did  not  now 
give  the  miserable  English  the  measures  of  peace  which 
had  been  bargained  and  paid  for :  and  with  what  decency 
•  could  a  government  that  had  plotted  the  masszicre  of  the 
Danes,  and  a  people  who  had  perpetrated  it,  complain  of  bad 
faith  1  At  this  time  they  are  said  to  have  been  instigated  by 
the  traitor  Edric.  His  brother  (probably  that  Brihtric  under 
whose  command  the  eighty  ships  were  lost)  had  accused  the 
nobles  of  Kent  before  the  king,  and  entered  forcibly  upon 
their  possessions.  They,  in  return,  surrounded  him  in  one 
of  his  houses,  and  set  fire  to  the  house  ;  and  he  either  pe- 
rished in  the  flames,  or  was  killed  as  he  attempted  to  escape 
from  them.  The  manners  of  the  nation,  indeed,  were  such 
as  to  deserve  the  evils  which  were  brought  upon  them.  In 
revenge  for  his  brother,  Edric,  who  had  always  been  in 
secret  communication  with  the  Danes,  is  now  charged  with 
proposing  to  them  that  they  should  drive  Ethelred  from  tlie 
throne,  take  the  whole  north  of  England  for  their  own,  and 
leave  him,  as  their  friend  and  ally,  in  possession  of  the  rest. 
This  agreement  having  been  made,  he  urged  them,  for  his 
own  purposes  of  vengeance,  to  begin  with  Canterbury.^: 
The  citizens  made  a  brave  defence,  being  animated  by  the 
presence  and  the  exhortations  of  their  Archbishop,  JElfeah,  or 
Elphege.  They  held  out  twenty  days,  till  their  provisions 
were  consumed ;  and  then  the  prelate,  who  was  eminent  for 
the  holiness  of  his  life,  sent  to  the  Danish  chief,  not  to  pro- 
pose terms  of  surrender,  but  to  entreat  that  he  would  spare 


•  "  Deus  bone !"  saya  Father  Alfred,  "  quot  uno  anno  loca  vastarerunt. 
Ego  certe  si  singula  percurro  manumxquu  ac  pedem  fatigabo." 

t  "  Hoc  solum  inerat  boni  promissam  fidem  nolle  mentiri ;  ct  boc  in- 
Urdura."— 0»6er»,  Fita  S.  Elphegi.    Acta  SS.  April,  t.  ii.  p.  636. 

)  Osbern,  ut  supra,  637. 


80  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  innocent,*  and  take  heed  how  he  abused  that  poweneith 
which,  for  the  sins  of  his  people,  God  had  armed  the  Danes. 
There  seems  reason  to  think  that  Thurkill  was  disposed  to 
grant  the  mercy  that  was  thus  supplicated ;  but  he  had  little, 
authority  in  such  things  over  his  men,  and  still  less  over  the 
English,!  who  formed  part  of  his  army,  and  who  were 
either  the  retainers  of  Edric,  eager  to  avenge  his  quarrel,  or 
Anglo-Danes  in  whom  the  remembrance  of  the  massacre 
was  burning.  ITiey  began  to  storm  the  city ;  and,  throwing 
firebrands  from  the  mounds  and  towers  which  they  had  con- 
structed, set  some  of  the  dwellings  on  fire.  A  strong  south 
wind  spread  the  conflagration ;  and  at  this  crisis,  when  the 
citizens  were  confounded,  not  knowing  whether  to  abandon 
the  walls  to  the  assailants,  or  their  houses  to  the  flames, 
Elfmar,  the  archdeacon,  whose  life  had  been  spared  for 
some  former  crime  by  Elphege,  is  charged  with  having 
treacherously  admitted  the  enemy  ::{: — if  he  did  so,  it  was  a  • 
sin  of  supererogation ;  for  the  pleice  at  that  moment  was  at 
their  mercy.  Unutterable  cruelties  were  then  committed 
upon  the  inhabitants ;  and  when  rapine  and  cruelty  were 
satiated,  it  is  aflirmed  that  military  execution  followed,  and 
that  the  survivors  were  decimated, — not  in  the  manner  which 
that  word  usually  implies,  but  nine  of  every  ten  being  put 
to  death,  and  only  the  tenth  spared.  Four  of  the  clergy  and 
eight  hundred  of  the  people  are  said  to  have  been  all  that 
were  left  alive. 

Canterbury  having  been  thus  laid  waste,  they  carried 
Elphege  on  board  their  fleet,  expecting  to  exact  a  large  ran- 
som for  him ;  zmd  then  sailed  for  Greenwich.  The  old  sys-  \ 
tem  of  negotiation  had  been  once  more  renewed,  and  the 
sum  of  48,000/.  agreed  upon  as  the  tribute.  Edric,  and  all 
1019  *^^  elders  of  Witan,  clergy  or  laymen,  came  to  Lon- 
don to  see  to  the  collection  and  the  payment.  Mean- 
time Elphege  attempted  to  escape  by  night.  One  monkish 
biographer,  who,  like  all  such  biographers,  is  never  at  a  loss 
for  a  miracle,  says,  that  the  Devil  appeared  to  him  in  his  pri- 
son, but  in  the  form  of  an  angel  of  light ;  and,  saying  that 
he  was  sent  to  deliver  him,  as  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  had 
been  delivered,  led  him  into  the  midst  of  the  marshes,  then 
vanished,  and  left  him  there  in  the  darkness ;  that  the  arch- 

*  "  Ut  ab  incepto  liesiBtat,"  Osbern  says,  and  Capgrave  and  Alford  follow 
him.  But  Cressy  drops  this,  as  I  bave  done,  believing  thai  tbe  archbishop 
Would  not  have  made  so  absurd  a  request. 

t  "  Nam  illi  ad  impietatem  procliviores  extiterant." — Osbern,  638. 

J  The  Saxon  Chronicle  accuses  him.  Osbern's  silence  does  n.ot  invali- 
date the  charge,  because  he  would  be  as  ready  to  suppress  any  fact  to  the 
discredit  of  his  brethren,  as  to  invent  or  propagate  miracles  in  their  hononr. 


ST.  ELPHEGE.  81 

bishop,  perceiving  then  how  he  had  been  deceived,  prayed 
to  our  Lord,  when  an  angel  was  sent  to  guide  him  back  to 
prison,  and  comfort  him  by  the  promise  that  on  the  morrow 
he  should  be  rewarded  with  a  crown  of  glory  for  all  his  suf- 
ferings ;  that,  as  he  was  about  to  re-enter  his  prison,*  the 
guards  saw,  caught  him,  and  beat  him  cruelly  before  they 
thrust  him  in;  and  that  during  the  night,  a  celestial  splendour 
illumined  the  place,  and  he  was  refreshed  with  heavenly 
odours,  and  many  saints  appeared  to  him  singing  hymns  of 
thanksgiving  and  of  joy,  among  whom  he  recognised  St. 
Dunstan,  who  told  him  they  were  come  to  let  him  see  the 
blessed  society  which  he  should  partake  through  all  eternity, 
if  he  would  persevere  only  one  day  more  in  suffering  pa- 
tiently whatever  God  might  for  His  glory  permit  his  perse- 
cutors to  inflict  upon  him.  On  the  morrow  he  was  brought 
before  the  Danish  chiefs  when  they  were  assembled  at  a 

*  These  fictions  serve  to  confirm  the  account  given  by  Ditmarus  Merse- 
pergius,  who  lived  about  that  time,  and  whose  informant,  Sewald,  had 
probably  been  an  eye-witness  to  the  archbishop's  death.  "  Elphege,"  he 
says,  "  having  been  tormneted  in  various  ways  to  extort  a  ransom,  pro- 
mised at  length  a  certain  sum  by  a  certain  day  ;  yielding,  the  writer  says, 
to  human  frailty,  and  thinking  that  if  there  should  be  none  who  would 
raise  the  money  for  his  deliverance,  he  should  at  least  have  time  in  the  in- 
terval to  prepare  for  death.  The  day  came;  and  when  he  was  called  upon 
to  fulfil  his  engagement,  he  presented  himself,  like  a  lamb  for  the  slaughter, 
saying,  '  As  to  my  seeming  a  liar  to  you,  it  was  not  my  own  will,  but  ex- 
tremity that  made  me  so.  The  body,  which  I  have  loved  but  too  well,  I  sur- 
render to  you  as  guilty :  it  is  in  your  power  to  do  with  it  what  you  please; 
but  my  sinful  soul,  over  which  you  have  no  power,  I  humbly  commend  to 
the  mercy  of  its  Creator.'"  Sewald  adds,  that  Thurkill  endeavoured  in  vain 
to  save  him,  and  offered  his  comrades  all  his  own  spoil,  and  everything, 
except  his  ship,  which  he  possessed,  if  they  would  spare  the  archbishop's 
life.    Camden,  188. 

This,  which  father  Alford  (t.  iii.  p.  461.)  takes  great  pains  to  disprove,  is  no 
doubt  the  truth.  Elphege  hoped  that  his  ransom  would  make  a  part  of  the 
treaty,  or  that  it  would  be  raised  by  his  clergy;  aud  waiting  till  the  last 
day  in  that  hope,  attempted  then  to  make  his  escape,  lost  tiis  way  in  the 
marshes,  and  was  brought  back  to  prison.  The  miracles  were  invented  less 
for  the  purpose  of  excusing  his  flight,  than  of  excusing  the  monks  for  not 
raising  his  ransom ;  and  it  was  the  more  necessary  to  devise  some  apo- 
logy for  them,  inasmuch  as  the  monkish  writers  censured  the  king  for  suf- 
fering him  to  lie  in  prison,  without  aflbrding  him  any  help  or  assistance. 
They  asserted,  therefore,  that  the  Danes  demanded  sixty  talents  of  silver, 
each  of  fifty  pounds  weight,  for  his  own  ransom,  and  required  him  to  pledge 
himself  that  the  king  should  pay  two  hundred  such  talents  as  the  price  of 
peace.  Elphege,  they  say,  replied,  that  this  was  neither  possible,  nor  rea- 
sonable if  it  had  been  possible :  not  possible,  because  the  land  had  been 
ravaged  and  laid  waste  ;  not  reasonable  that  he  should  advise  the  king  to 
anything,  "  contra  patriip  decus,"  against  the  honour  of  his  country ;  nor 
that  he  should  consent  to  have  the  church  despoiled  of  its  possessions  for 
his  own  sake,  "  proplcrea  quod  ('hristiani  hominis  non  sit  Christianorum 
carnes  paganisdentibus  conterendas  dare."  In  this,  they  say,  he  proposed 
to  himself  to  follow  the  example  of  St.  Lawrence ;  and,  as  he  sufl'ered  death 
in  consequence,  he  was  for  this  declared  to  be  a  martyr,  and  canonized  ac- 
cordingly. (Osbern,  638.)  "  Pro  justissimil  cau8&  mortuua  Elpbegus  sanctiu 
et  martyr  appellatus."— .^(^orrf,  iii.  4(51. 


I 


82  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

drunken  feast,  a  ca^o  of  wine  having  just  been  brought  them 
from  the  south.*  They  demanded  the  sum  which  they  had 
fixed  for  his  ransom  ;  and  as  he  had  it  not  to  produce,  and 
could  make  no  promise  that  it  should  be  paid,  they  threw 
their  battle-Jixes  at  him,  then  the  heads  and  Bones  of  the 
oxen  which  had  been  slaughtered  for  the  feast,  and  then 
stoned  him,  till  some  one  whom  he  had  formerly  confirmed, 
cleft  his  head  in  compassion  with  an  axe.f 

There  are  falsehoods  which  so  truly  characterize  the  man- 
ners and  the  spirit  of  difierent  ages,  that  they  ought  not  to 
be  rejected  from  the  history  in  which  they  occur.  It  is  re- 
lated, that  when  the  Danish  chiefs,  to  whose  drunken  fury 
Elphege  had  fallen  a  victim,  ordered  his  body  to  be  cast  into 
the  river,  the  great  multitude  of  their  soldiers,  whom  he  had 
converted  to  the  faith,  refused  to  permit  this ;  and,  though 
they  had  made  no  attempt  to  save  him,  took  arms  to  prevent 
such  an  indignity  from  being  offered  to  his  remains.  A 
council,  however,  was  held  by  common  consent,  in  which  it 
was  agreed  that  trial  should  be  made  whether  or  not  Elphege 
had  been  a  holy  man ;  which,  if  he  were  proved  to  be,  his 
body  was  to  be  at  the  disposal  of  those  who  believed  in  him, 
and  they  might  inter  it  with  what  honour  they  would.  The 
proof  was  to  be  made  by  smearing  an  oar  with  his  blood, 
and  planting  it  in  the  ground  that  night :  if  on  the  morrow 
it  remained  barked  and  sapless,  as  they  now  beheld  it,  his 
converts  were  to  acknowledge  themselves  convinced  of  error ; 
but  if,  on  the  contrary,  it  should  put  forth  leaves,  the  pagan 
chiefs  should  then  confess  their  fault.  At  daylight,  accord- 
ingly, the  oar  was  found  to  have  assumed  the  appearance  of 
a  flourishing  young  ash.  The  body  was  then  borne  to  the 
tomb  upon  the  shoulders  of  its  humiliated  and  penitent  mur- 
derers, and  innumerable  miracles  were  immediately  perform- 
ed by  it :  there  was  a  present  cure  for  the  lame,  the  blind, 
the  deaf,  the  dumb,  the  diseased ;  and  all  who  refused  still 
to  be  converted  were  cut  off"  by  some  speedy  and  dreadful 
death.:f  With  such  inventions,  the  monks  adorned,  as  they 
thought,  the  disgraceful  fact,  that  the  primate  of  England, 
liaving  been  made  prisoner  in  his  own  city,  had  been  carried 
by  his  captors  to  Greenwich,  detained   there  in  rigorous 

*  Sax.  Chron.  183. 

t  Osbern,  638— 640.  Alford,  iii.  460.  Cressy,  book  xxxiii.  c  27.  Sax. 
Ohron.  188,  189.  " Eo  sceleratius  factum,"  says  the  Jesuit  F.  Alford,  "quia 
Swanus  Danorum  rex  et  primi  inter  eos  Cliristiani  fuerunt;  quos  oportuit 
non  Calvinistarum  more,  sanctos  viros  et  inful^  dignissimos,  sed  Christia- 
norum  more  tractare."  Probably  be  was  thinking  of  Laud's  iniquitous  Ate 
when  he  wrote  this  aentence. 

I  Osbern,  640. 


PUBLIC  HUMILIATION.  83 

durance  for  seven  months,  while  the  great  council  of  the 
realm  was  sitting  at  London,  and  put  to  death,  because  there 
was  none  to  ransom  him ;  and  this  not  forty  yejurs  after  Ed- 
gar had  commanded  the  four  seas ! 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  reasons  which  withheld  the 
witan,  or  the  clergy,  from  ransoming  Elphege  when  his  life 
might  have  been  saved,  his  body,  after  he  had  thus  suffered, 
was  thought  to  be  worth  any  price,  and  large  offers  were 
immediately  made  for  it.  Having  obtained  it,*  the  London- 
ers conveyed  it,  with  triumphant  joy,  to  St.  Paul's,  and 
there  deposited  it  as  a  treasure.  The  whole  of  the  tribute, 
or  Danegelt,  by  which  name  the  humiliating  impulse  was 
called,  seems  at  this  time  to  have  been  paid.  The  Danes 
swore  to  keep  the  peace  which  had  been  purchased,  and 
then  their  force  dispersed  as  widely  as  it  had  before  been 
collected.  Thurkill,  with  five  and  forty  ships,  entered  into 
Ethelred's  service,!  ^^^  engaged  to  defend  the  land,  on  con- 
dition that  they  should  be  fed  and  clothed.  But  the  king- 
dom was  in  a  miserable  state  of  exhaustion ;  and  when  the 
wretched  king  assembled  his  witan  once  more,  at  a  place 
called  Haba,  they  found  themselves  so  helpless,  so  destitute 
of  all  human  resources,  that  almost  the  only  business  which 
they  performed  was  to  order  that  an  extraordinary  fast  should 
be  kept  for  the  three  days  before  St.  Michael's  day,  on  bread, 
raw  herbs,  and  water,  on  which  days  the  poor  were  to  be 
provided  with  a  meal  by  the  more  fortunate  classes,  but  with- 
out meat ;  that  in  every  parish  on  these  days  processions 
should  be  made  barefoot ;  that  every  one  should  coijfess  and 
perform  penance,  every  priest  say  thirty  masses,  and  every  in- 
ferior clerk  and  monk  thirty  psalms  for  the  king  and  the  king- 
dom, and  that  in  every  church  the  mass  contra  paganos  should 
be  sung  daily.  Every  servant  was  to  be  exempt  from  work 
on  these  days,  that  he  might  the  better  perform  the  religious 
duties  which  were  required ;  but  on  his  own  account  he  was 
at  liberty  to  employ  himself  as  he  chose.  Any  one  of  the 
servile  cl£iss  who  should  break  this  fast  was  to  be  punished 
in  person,  as  he  could  not  in  purse  ',X  a  poor  freeman  was  to 
be  mulcted  thirty  pence  for  the  same  transgression ;  a  king's 

•  "  Sive  gratis  seu  pretio,"  says  Osbern ;  for  to  have  admitted  that  the 
Danes  sold  it,  after  such  proof  of  bis  sanctity,  would  have  thrown  some 
discredit  upon  the  miraculous  part  of  his  story. 

t  Cressy  (p.  020.)  supposes  this  to  have  been  a  defensive  treaty  with  the 
Danes;  whereas  it  appears  to  have  been  with  an  adventurer  who  made  war 
on  his  own  account,  and  was  ready  at  any  time  to  engage  on  the  side  which 
oflered  him  most  advantage.  The  view  which  CreHsy  talies  is  supported  by 
Fontanus  (p.  143.)    Mr.  Pulgrave  understands  it  as  1  have  done 

X  "  Corio  suo  componat." 


84  NAVAl  mSTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

thane  120  shillings;  and  these  fines  were  to  be  divided 
among  the  poor.  Robbery,  selling  men  into  foreign  slavery, 
and  the  abuse  of  justice  for  hatred,  for  favour,  or  for  the  lucre 
of  gain,  were  denounced  as  crying  sins ;  and  the  people  were 
exhorted  to  serve  God  and  obey  the  king,  as  their  ancestors 
had  done,  that  so  they  might  better  defend  the  kingdom.*  "  All 
these  humiliations,"  says  a  church  historian,  I  "  being  extort- 
ed by  fear,  did  not  produce  that  effect  which  otherwise  they 
would  have  done."  That  they  could  not  but  fail  might  have 
been  expected,  because  they  were  performed  in  fear,  as  well 
as  extorted  by  it.  Against  the  natural  visitations  which  God 
in  the  course  of  his  providence,  appoints,  there  is  no  other  re- 
source, no  other  refuge,  than  to  Himself,  in  earnest  and  con- 
tinued supplication ;  but  when  a  people  call  upon  Heaven  to 
aid  them  against  their  enemies,  they  must  put  up  their  pray- 
ers in  hope,  and  help  themselves,  if  they  would  be  holpen. 

If  Sweyne  desired  any  other  plea  than  his  own  will  and 
pleasure  for  renewing  hostilities,  he  may  have  found  it  in 
the  king  of  England's  engagement  with  Thurkill,  who  was 
a  Danish  subject.  The  Danish  party  was  in  itself  strong, 
and  was  at  this  time  increased  by  that  numerous  class  of 
persons  who  are  always  ready  to  forsake  ■  the  loosing  side. 
While  his  own  people  urged  Sweyne  to  invade  England, 
for  the  purpose  of  punishing  Thurkill  :|:  zis  a  traitor  who  had 
revolted  from  his  allegiance,  the  Anglo-Danes,  and  those 
who  now  made  common  cause  with  them,  invited  him  to  the 
easy  conquest  of  a  fertile  land ;  where  the  king,  having  aban- 
doned himself  to  women  and  wine,  was  hated  by  his  subjects, 
and  despised  by  other  nations ;  where  the  chiefs  were  jealous 
of  each  other,  and  the  people  prepared  for  defeat  by  their  weak- 
ness, their  distrust,  and  their  fears.§  Little  persuasion  was 
needed  by  one  whose  power  was  commensurate  with  his  am- 
j-jjo  bition.  He  assembled  a  great  fleet,  and  set  sail,  with  a 
display  of  splendour, II  as  if  his  object  had  been  rather 
to  take  possession  of  a  kingdom  thein  to  conquer  one,  so  gaily 
were  his  vessels  adorned,  and  their  prows  crested  with  lions, 

*  Alford,  iii.  464.,  where  the  laws  are  given  from  Spelman.     Cressy,  920. 

tCressy.  "  Et  sane  strictissima  jejuniorum  qualitas  quae  in  pane  etaqu^ 
pnecipitur,  processis,  nudis  pedibus,  orationum  et  e*eemosynarum  frequeo- 
tia  satis  arguunt  Anglorum  res  deplorataa  fuisse  et  pejora  tiiaeii."—jUfard, 
iii.  465. 

I  Palgrave,  299. 

§  William  of  Malmesbury,  213.  He  jepresents  this  advice  as  coming  from 
Thurkill ;  but  in  this  the  subsequent  conduct  of  that  chief  proves  that  be 
was  mistaken  ;  and,  indeed,  there  is  a  confusion  of  time  and  circumstances 
in  this  part  of  iiis  history. 

II  Palgrave,  299. 


THE  DANES  REPELLED  FROM  LONDON.       85 

eagles,  dolphins,  and  dragons,  emblematic  alike  of  their 
swiftness  and  their  strength.  First,  he  made  for  Sandwich  ; 
but,  making  little  tarriance  there,  as  if  the  information  which 
he  had  there  obtained  induced  him  to  change  the  scene  of 
his  operations,  he  sailed  for  the  mouth  of  the  Humber,  and, 
entering  the  Trent,  landed  at  Gainsborough.*  The  whole 
country  north  of  the  Humber  submitted  to  him,  with  its  earl 
Uhtred.  This  example  was  followed  by  the  people  ofLind- 
sey,  next  by  the  Fif  burhingam,  or  Fiveburgings,  as  the  as- 
sociated Danish  inhabitants  of  Leicester,  Lincoln,  Notting- 
ham, Stamford,  and  Derby  were  called, |  and  then  by  all  the 
military  force  north  of  Watling  Street,  every  shire  giving 
him  hostages.  These  hostages  and  the  fleet  he  left  in  charge 
with  his  son  Canute ;  and  having  obtained  provisions  and 
horses  from  his  new  subjects,  he  mounted  his  main  force, 
crossed  Watling  Street,  and,  in  the  words  of  the  chronicle, 
they  wrought  the  greatest  evil  that  any  army  could  do.:j: 
Oxford  and  Winchester  submitted  with  little  or  no  resistance. 
He  carried  away  hostages  from  both  cities,  and  then  bent 
his  course  towards  London,  proceeding  with  such  eager 
speed,  that  many  of  his  people  were  lost  in  crossing  the 
Thames,  because  they  would  not  make  a  circuit  to  reach  a 
bridge,  nor  patiently  explore  the  places  where  the  river 
might  be  safely  forded.  By  this  rapidity  he  expected  to  get 
possession  of  London ;  but  Ethelred  was  there,  and,  un- 
worthy as  he  was,  the  Londoners  nobly  thought,§  that,  if 
they  deserted  their  king,  who  had  thus  committed  himself 
to  their  fidelity,  they  should  commit  a  sin  which  ought  never 
to  be  forgiven.  Thurkill  also,  who  proved  faithiul  to  his 
engagement,  was  with  him«  and  the  auxiliary  fleet  was  in 
the  river.  The  invader  employed  artifice  and  force  alike  in 
vain :  the  citizens  rejected  his  overtures  and  repelled  his  as- 
saults ;  and,  if  the  same  courage  and  the  same  loyalty  had 
been  found  in  other  parts  of  the  kingdom,  England  would 
not  have  been  subdued  by  the  Danes.  |j 

♦  "  So  ramous,"  says  Camden  (472.,)  "  for  being  the  harbour  of  the  Danish 
ships." 

t  Gibson,  note  to  Camden.  865.  York  and  Chester  afterwards  joined  the 
association,  and  they  were  then  called  theSevenburgings.  Alford,  speaking 
of  those  who  submitted  to  the  Danish  conqueror  at  this  time,  calls  them 
"  Populus  tervitutis  impatiens,  ideo  ad  nova  imperia  proniptus,  quia  omne 
imperium  fugiebat,"  iii.  465.  But  the  motive  for  their  submission  is  to  be 
found  in  iheir  blood,  rather  than  in  their  impatience  of  government. 

I  "Oppress!  cives,  trucidati  coloni,  vastati  ag:ri,  exusto;  domus,  luci  et 
pomeria  succisa,  spoliata;  ecclosiic,  nee  parcitum  imbelli  sexui,  sed  obvium 
quodcunque  aut  jugulatum  aut  rescrvatum  libidini."— Pon<aniM,  143. 

§  William  of  Malmesbury,  214. 

II  Sax.  Chron.  180,  Idl.    Alford,  iii. 465. 466.    PonUnus,  143. 

Vol.  L  H 


86  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

But  this  brave  example  was  lost  upon  the  nation.  Sweyne 
marched  into  the  west  after  his  repulse,  and  halted  with  his 
army  at  Bath,  whither  Ethelmar,  the  ealdermam,  and  all  the 
western  thanes,  cemie  to  make  their  submission,  and  give 
hostages.  He  then  returned  northward  to  his  ships,  the 
people,  whithersoever  he  went,  now  acknowledging  him  as 
king.  The  Londoners,  themselves,  finding  that  they  were 
unsupported,  persisted  no  longer  in  their  resistance.  He  had 
threatened,  if  he  took  the  city,  to  pluck  out  their  eyes,  and 
lop  off  their  hands  and  feet :  they  knew  that  this  threat  was 
made  with  the  intention  of  fulfilling  it ;  and  they  now  sub- 
mitted in  despair,  satisfied  in  having  so  done  their  duty,  that 
they  were  the  last  to  yield.  This  it  is  affirmed  they  would 
not  have  done,  if  the  king  had  not  withdrawn  from  them, 
either  in  cowardice  or  in  distrust;  for,  says  the  monkish  his- 
torian, "  they  were  men  deserving  of  all  praise,  whom  Mars 
himself  would  not  have  disdained  to  encounter,  if  they  had 
had  a  worthy  leader.  Even  with  only  the  shadow  of  one  to 
support  them,  they  braved  all  dangers  of  battle,  and  with- 
stood a  siege  of  several  months."  But  Ethelred,  who  took 
refuge  first  in  Thurkill's  fleet,  with  his  family,  and  afterwards 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  accused  his  chiefs  and  his  people,  and 
took  no  shame  to  himself.  He  represented  to  those  abbots 
and  bishops  who  still  adhered  to  him  in  his  adversity,  that, 
through  the  treachery  of  those  in  whom  he  had  confided,  he 
was  now,  to  the  disgrace  of  the  English,  who  had  deserted 
him,  an  outcast  and  a  fugitive  :  and  they  who  had  thus 
faithfully  followed  his  fortunes  were  now  in  such  straits, 
that  many  of  them  wanted  clothing,  and  all  found  it  difficult 
to  procure  food.  The  country  was  completely  subdued,  the 
coast  closely  watched  ;  and  perhaps  at  this  time  there  was 
more  danger  from  their  countrymen,  he  said,  than  from  their 
enemies.  Nothing  remained  but  a  doubtful  hope  that  the 
duke  of  Normandy  might  take  them  under  his  protection. 
This  he  would  ascertain,  by  sending  over  the  queen  and  her 
children.  If  the  duke,  her  brother,  received  them  as  per- 
sons who  were  so  near  to  him  in  blood,  that  kindness  would 
be  a  pledge  of  his  own  security  ;  otherwise  he  should  not 
want  resolution  to  die  where  he  was,  with  honour,  rather 
than  to  live  with  ignominy  any  where !  The  queen's  recep- 
tion -was  such  as  he  desired  ;  and  having  waited  some 
months  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  without  perceiving  any  fa- 
vourable change  in  the  state  of  affedrs,  Ethelred  followed 
them  himself,  leaving  Sweyne  king  of  England  in  full  pos- 
session, but  by  the  yet  insecure  right  of  conquest.* 

"^  Sa2.  Cbron.  191.    William  of  Malmesbury,  314—216. 


ETHELRED  RETURNS  TO  ENGLAND.        87 

He  held  it  but  a  few  weeks  after  the  dethroned  king  .  „-  . 
had  retired  to  Normandy.*  The  fleet  immediately 
obeyed  his  son  Canute  as  his  successor;  but  the  witan 
assembled,  and  advised  that  Ethelred  should  be  invited  back  ; 
for  no  lord,  they  said,  could  be  dearer  to  them  than  their 
natural  one,  if  he  would  govern  them  better  than  he  had 
done  before.  Gladly  did  Ethelred  receive  such  an  invita- 
tion ;  and  he  sent  over  his  son  Edmund  the  Atheling,  with 
the  messenger,  who  had  orders  to  salute  all  his  people, 
saying  that  he  would  be  their  good  lord,  would  amend  all 
those  things  of  which  they  all  complained,  and  would  for- 
give all  that  had  been  said  or  done  against  him,  provided 
they  submitted  to  him  with  sincerity.  Then,  says  the  chro- 
nicle, was  full  friendship  established,  in  word,  and  in  deed, 
and  in  compact,  on  either  side.  "  In  this  remarkable  tran- 
sanction,"  says  Mr.  Palgrave,f  "  we  may  discern  the  germ 
of  Magna  Charta,  and  of  all  the  subsequent  compacts  be- 
tween the  king  and  people  of  England."  Every  Danish  king, 
it  was  now  declared,  was  to  be  held  for  ever  as  an  outlaw 
in  England ;  a  declaration  which  shows  with  how  deep  a 

•  His  opportune  death  was  ascribed  to  the  vengeance  of  king  St.  Edmund, 
upon  whose  abbey  he  had  imposed  a  grievous  tribute.  There  was  a  monk 
of  that  abbey,  Egelwin  by  name,  who,  according  to  the  legend,  was  called 
8t.  Edmund's  privy  chamberlain,  and  not  undescrvjedly ;  for  he  used,  at 
certain  times,  to  open  the  saint's  sepulchre,  wash  him,  and  comb  his  hair, 
tailing  for  his  reward  such  hairs  as  came  off  in  combing,  which  be  pre-' 
served  as  relics.  At  such  times  he  used  in  his  affectionate  devotion,  to 
speak  to  him  in  a  familiar  manner,  as  if  to  a  living  person  ;  and  "  wtiicb 
was  wonderful,"  the  dead  saint  sometimes  answered  him.  Egelwin  very 
naturally  complained  to  him  of  the  oppressions  under  which  the  nation 
groaned,  and  more  especially  of  the  ta.\  which  was  levied  upon  his  church, 
and  the  insolent  terms  in  which  Sweyne  had  defied  the  saini  himself  Upon 
this  St.  Edmund  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream,  and  bade  him  in  his  name 
go  to  king  Sweyne,  and  admonish  him  to  desist  from  oppressing  his  people, 
if  he  would  avoid  the  divin<'  vengeance  which  was  impending  over  him. 
As  might  be  supposed,  the  messenger  was  disregarded,  and  thought  himself 
fortunate  to  esca))e  with  life.  But  whether  St  Edmund,  in  a  vision  on  the 
following  night,  struck  the  Danish  king  on  the  head,  of  which  blow  he 
died  the  following  day,  or  whether  he  approacjjod  him  in  armour  in  the 
midst  of  his  army,  and  with  a  spear  inflicted  upon  him  an  invisible  but 
mortal  wound,  is  diversely  reported.  All  the  various  relations  are  given 
by  father  Alford  (iii.  4t)7,  •108).  Cressy  contents  himself  with  Oapgrave's 
story  (!i22).  Baron  Holberg  supposes  that  some  good  English  patriot  acred 
the  part  of  the  saint,  and  delivered  his  country  from  a  great  tyrant  (i.  100). 
But  the  Saxon  Chronicle  simply  records  his  death;  this  silence  sufliciently 
shows  that  he  dii-d  in  course  of  nature,  and  that  the  circumstances  (in 
imitation  of  the  legend  of  St.  Marcial,  who  has  the  credit  of  having  killed 
Juliun)  were  after  inventions,  for  the  honour  of  St.  Edmnnd  and  the 
profit  of  his  monastery. 

f  Turner,  Hist,  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  303.  "  With  the  full  acknowledg- 
ment of  hereditary  right,  the  nation  stipulated  that  the  king  should  not 
abuse  bis  power.  They  imposed  terms  upon  Ethelred ;  they  vindicated 
their  national  liberty,  at  the  same  time  that  they  respected  the  sanctity  of 
Uk  crown." 


88  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

hatred  the  Danes  were  regarded.  Ethehed  then  retnmed 
from  the  continent,  and  was  received  with  that  joy  which 
always  accompanies  a  restoration.  He  lost  no  time  in  send- 
ing agents  to  all  parts  where  mercenaries  could  be  engaged ; 
and  great  numbers  flocked  to  him  accordingly.  Among 
them  came  a  certain  king  Olaf  (perhaps  the  same  who  had 
been  baptized  in  this  country):  he  brought  with  him  a 
strong  fleet ;  and  with  the  aid  of  these  Scandinavian  ships, 
the  king  of  England  resolved  upon  attempting  to  retake 
London  from  the  Danes. 

The  fleet  was  of  little  use,  unless  it  could  pass  the  bridge. 
But  this,  which  was  of  wood,  wide  enough  for  the  commo- 
dious passage  of  two  carriages,  and  supported  upon  trestles, 
had  been  strongly  fortified  with  towers,  and  a  parapet  breast 
high ;  and  at  its  south  end  it  was  defended  by  a  military 
work,  placed  on  what  the  Icelandic  historian  calls  the  great 
emporium  of  Southwark.  This  fortress  was  of  great  strength, 
built  of  wood  and  stone,  with  a  deep  and  wide  ditch,  and 
ramparts  of  earth.  A  first  attack  upon  the  bridge  failed ;  for 
the  Danes  had  manned  it  well,  and  defended  it  bravely. 
Grieved  at  his  repulse,  Ethelred  held  a  council  of  war,  to 
deliberate  in  what  manner  they  might  hope  to  destroy  the 
bridge :  and  Olaf  undertook  to  make  the  attempt  with  some 
of  his  ships,  if  the  other  leaders  would  join  in  the  assault. 
Causing,  therefore,  some  deserted  houses  to  be  pulled  down, 
he  employed  the  beams  and  planks  in  constructing  projec- 
tions from  the  sides  of  the  ships,  under  cover  of  which,  when 
they  were  laid  alongside  the  bridge,  the  assault  might  be 
made ;  a  contrivance  intended  to  serve  the  same  purpose  as 
those  machines  which,  under  the  names  of  "  cats"  and 
"  sows,"  were  used  in  sieges.  He  expected  that  the  roof- 
ing would  be  strong  enough  to  resist  the  weight  of  any 
stones  which  might  be  thrown  upon  it ;  but  in  this  expecta- 
tion he  had  calculated  too  much  upon  the  solidity  of  his 
materials,  and  too  little  upon  the  exertions  and  activity  of 
the  defendants ;  and  when,  with  the  advantage  of  the  flow- 
ing tide,  the  ships  had  taken  their  station,  stones  of  such 
magnitude  were  let  fall  upon  them,  that  the  cover  was  beaten 
in :  shields  and  helmets  afforded  no  protection ;  the  ships 
themselves  were  shaken  and  greatly  injured,  and  many  of 
them  sheered  off.  Olaf,  however,  persisted  in  his  enter- 
prise. Under  cover  of  such  a  bulwark,  he  succeeded  in 
fastening  some  strong  cables  or  chains  to  the  trestles  which 
supported  the  bridge ;  and,  when  the  tide  had  turned,  his 
rowers,  aided  by  the  returning  stream,  tore  away  the  middle 
of  it,  many  of  the  enemy  being  precipitated  into  the  river. 


ETHELRED  AND  CANUTE.  89 

The  others  fled  into  the  city,  or  into  Southwark ;  and  the 
Thames  was  thus  opened  to  the  fleet.  The  south,  work  was 
then  attacked  and  carried ;  and  the  Danes  were  no  longer 
able  to  prevent  the  Londoners  from  opening  their  gates,  and 
joyfully  receiving  their  king.* 

Ethelred  then  moved  against  Canute,  who,  since  his  fa- 
ther's death,  had  remained  with  his  fleet  at  Gainsborough, 
and  had  just  now  agreed  with  the  people  of  Lindsey  that 
they  should  supply  him  with  horses,  and  make  a  joint  expe- 
dition with  him  for  the  sake  of  plunder.  But  so  little  did 
Ethelred  deserve  the  reproach  of  unreadiness  at  this  time, 
tliat  he  arrived  in  Lindsey  with  his  army  before  they  were 
in  the  field  ;  and  Canute,  unable  to  protect  liie  Anglo-Danish 
subjects,  took  to  his  ships,  and  sailed  (tut  of  the  Humber, 
leaving  them  to  his  mercy.  Little  did  they  find  at  Ethel- 
red's  hands.  He  "plundered,  and  burnt,  and  slew  all  the 
men  he  could  take ;"  while  Canute,  with  equal  inhumanity, 
making  for  Sandwich,  landed  the  hostages  there  who  had 
been  given  to  his  father,  cut  off  their  ears  and  noses  and 
hands,  and  then  repaired  to  Denmark ;  either  deeming  it 
necessary  to  secure  his  succession  in  his  native  country,  or 
because  he  found  that  a  stronger  spiritf  had  manifested  it- 
self a^inst  him  in  England  than  he  was  able  at  that  time  to 
contend  with.  For  a  little  while  the  English  were  delivered 
from  their  foreign  enemies ;  but  money  was  now  to  be  raised 
for  tlie  payment  of  their  foreign  friends  ;:|:  and  when  21,000/. 
were  levied  for  that  purpose,  they  felt  more  aggrieved  by 
the  impost,  than  grateful  for  services  which  had  been  bravely 

♦I  owe  niv  first  knowledge  of  this  interesting  fact  in  English  and  naval 
history  to  Mr.  Rickman's  Statement  of  Progress  under  the  Population 
Act  of  1830,  where  the  Latin  translation  of  Snorre's  narrative  is  given  in  a 
note  (10,17).  The  original  Icelandic  may  be  found  in  Johnstone's  Anti- 
quitates  Celto-Scandicse,  89,  90.  This  is  the  earliest  mention  of  a  bridge 
over  the  Thames  at  London. 

t  According  tethe  banish  historian  Hvitfeld,  he  suffered  a  great  defeat, 
and  was  driven  out  of  England  (Holberg,  i.  la.?.)  There  is  no  intimation 
of  this  in  our  writers,  by  whom  it  was  not  likely  to  have  been  overlooked  ; 
butSnorre  mentions  a  great  victory  gained  by  Ethelred,  with  Olafs  assist- 
ance, in  the  spring,  after  the  recovery  of  London,  in  the  lands  of  Ulfkell, 
which  he  calls  Hringmaraheide.    Antiq.  Celto-Scand.  93. 

X  Mr.  Palgrave  (p.  303.)  thinks  this  sum  was  paid  to  the  Danes  who  "  con- 
tinued in  undiminished  strength  and  hostility."  I  never  differ  from  Mr. 
Palgrave  upon  a  point  of  history  without  some  distrust  of  myself ;  but  in 
this  instance  Greenwich  is  mentioned  as  a  place  where  the  army,  to 
which  the  payment  was  made,  was  stationed^  and  it  is  there  that  Olaf  and 
his  people  might  be  expected  to  be  found.  Part  of  the  money  may,  indeed, 
probably  have  been  paid  to  Thurkill,  who,  "choosing  rather  to  remain  in  a 
region  replenished  with  all  riches,  than  to  return  home  to  his  own  country 
that  wanted  such  commodities  as  were  here  to  be  had,  compounded  with 
the  English,  and  was  retained  by  king  Ethelred  with  forty  ships,  and  the 
flower  of  all  the  Danes  that  were  men  of  whT."—Ifoliiisked,  i.  718. 
h2 


90  NAVAL  HISTORY  QF  ENGLAND. 

as  well  as  faithfully  performed.  The  miseries  of  the  people 
were  increased  by  a  great  sea-flood,  on  the  eve  of  St.  Mi- 
chael's d^y,  such  as  had  never  been  heard  of  before  ;  many 
i„.  _  towns  were  destroyed,  and  innumerable  lives.  Early 
'  in  the  ensuing  year  the  witan  was  held  at  Oxford,  and 
marked  by  an  zct  of  characteristic  treachery  on  the  part  of 
Edric  Streone,  a  man  as  conspicuous  in  those  miserable 
times  for  the  skill  with  which  he  conducted  his  political  in- 
trigues as  for  his  crimes.  Sigforth  and  Morcar,  who  were 
Anglo-Danes,  and  chiefs  of  the  seven  burghs,  were  inveigled 
by  him  to  a  feast ;  and  when  they  haxi  been  made  so  drunk 
as  to  be  incapable  of  defending  themselves,  they  were  killed 
by  his  people :  their  retainers  took  refuge  in  the  tower  of 
St.  Frideswide  s,  mow  Christchurch  cathedral ;  but  against 
this  miscreant  no  sanctuary  was  secure :  it  was  set  on  fire 
by  his  orders,  and  they  perished  in  the  flames.  Whether 
Ethelred  consented  to  these  murders  before  or  after  the  per- 
petration, matters  little  to  his  guilt  in  the  transaction,  or  to 
his  general  cheiracter.  If  he  did  not  order  or  authorise  the 
crime,  he  endeavoured  to  profit  by  it,  and  sent  to  seize  their 
possessions,  and  to  secure  the  widow  of  Sigferth, — a  lady 
famed  for  her  rank  and  beauty,  and  who  might  perhaps,  soon 
have  found  a  second  husband,  able  and  willing  to  have 
taken  vengeance  for  the  one  of  whom  she  had  thus  villanously 
been  bereaved.  She  was  carried  prisoner  to  Malmesbury. 
Edmund  the  Atheling  went  secretly  to  see  her  there,  and  the 
interview  led  to  a  marriage,  which  was  kept  secret  from  the 
king :  for  Ethelred  is  said  to  have  been  regarded  with  as 
little  respect  by  his  own  family  as  by  foreigners.* 

The  Danes  at  this  time,  as  well  as  the  English,  had  mer- 
cenaries in  their  service  ;f  a  proof  that  society  was  beginning 
to  settle  into  something  like  regularity  in  the  most  barbarous 
parts  of  Christendom.  During  Canute's  absence,  these  ad- 
venturers held  many  places  for  him,  if  he  shojild  return,  or 
for  themselves,  as  the  course  of  events  might  determine. 
Olaf  recovered  Canterbury  from  them ;  wasting  that  city  a 
second  time  with  fire  :  after  which  Ethelred  employed  him 
in  collecting,  doubtless  for  their  joint  use,  the  imposts,  which 
nothing  but  force  could  have  made  the  people  pay.  It  would 
not  be  surprising  if  this  mode  of  collection  excited  more 
discontent  than  the  teix,  the  burden  of  which,  assuredly,  it 
was  not  likely  to  diminish.  The  Anglo-Danes,  on  their 
part,  could  not  but  resent  the  treachery  which  had  been 

*  Sax.  Chron.  193, 194.      William  of  Malmesbury,  219,  220. 
t  Snorre.  Antiq.  CSelto-Scand.  103. 


CANUTE  RAVAGES  DORSET,  SOMERSET,  ETC.  91 

practised  upon  two  of  their  chiefs ;  and  that  resentment  was 
inflamed  when  ti\ey  saw  that  Edmund  the  Atheling,  well 
known,  for  his  prodigious  strength,  by  the  name  of  Ironside, 
having  married  the  widow  of  the  one,  seized  upon  the  pos- 
sessions of  both.  Edric,'  wfio,  perhaps,  had  designed  those 
possessions  for  himself,  was  at  this  time  plotting  the  destruc- 
tion of  that  prince ;  and  some  of  those  mercenaries  who,  upon 
Canute's  departure,  had  passed  over  to  the  service  of  Ethel- 
red,  opened  now  a  secret  communication  with  the  Danish 
king,  and  invited  him  to  return,  assuring  him  of  their  sup- 
port. Canute  soon  got  together  a  fleet  of  200  ships,  "  royally 
decked,  furnished  and  appointed,  both  for  brave  show  and 
necessary  furniture  of  all  manner  of  weapons,  arms,  and 
munition."*  He  sailed  first  for  Sandwich,  which  seems 
now  to  have  been  the  favourite  port  of  the  Danes,  then  to 
Poole  harbour ;  the  whole  coast  of  England  being  in  those 
days  better  known  to  its  enemies  than  to  its  own  sailors ; 
and,  making  Wareham  his  naval  station,  he  ravaged  the 
three  counties  of  Dorset,  Somerset,  and  Wiltshire.  E  thelred, 
whose  long  and  disgraceful  reign  was  now  drawing  towards 
its  close,  was  lying  sick  at  Corsham,  where  Edric,  who  still 
possessed  the  confidence  of  that  weak  king,  collected  an 
army,  and  Edmund  hastened  to  join  him  with  a  force  which 
he  had  assembled  in  the  north.  But  when  they  should  have 
marched  against  the  enemy,  Ironside  discovered  that  Edric's 
intention  was  to  betray  him ;  and  found  it  necessary  to  re- 
turn, with  those  troops  who  were  faithful,  to  a  place  where 
he  might  feel  himself  in  safety.  The  traitor  then  once  more 
revolted,  and  went  over  to  the  enemy  with  forty  ships, 
which,  as  they  are  said  to  have  been  manned  by  Danes, 
seem  to  have  been  a  mercenary's  fleet.  Wessex  then  sub- 
mitted, gave  hostages,  and  supplied  the  invader  with  horses, 
— to  be  employed  against  their  own  countrymen.f 

With  these  miserable  circumstances  the  year  closed.  Early 
in  the  ensuing  one,  Canute,  and  Edric  with  him,  ad-  -imc 
vanced  into  the  heart  of  the  country  iij:  they  crossed 
the  Thames  at  Cricklade,  and,  proceeding  into  Warwick- 

•  "  So,"  says  Holiosbed  (i.  718.)  "  as  it  is  strange  to  consider  that  which 
is  written  by  them  that  lived  in  those  days,  and  took  in  hand  to  register 
the  doings  of  that  time."  I  have  not  met  with  the  descriptions  which  are 
here  alluded  to ;  but,  in  the  age  of  piracy,  the  same  sort  of  pride  seems  to 
have  been  displayed  in  decorating  ships,  as  in  embellishing  armour  in  the 
age  of  chivalry. 

t  Sax.  Chron- 194,  195.    William  of  Malmesbury,  221. 

t  "With  ICO  ship?,"  says  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  as  if  the  nect  had  co- 
operatoi!  in  this  expedition  :  perhaiw  it  ascended  the  Severn.  The  Danish 
ships  seem  to  have  navigated  any  river  that  in  navigable  for  a  coal  barge; 
but  at  this  time  tbcy  could  not  pass  London  Bridge. 


92  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  EXOLAND. 

shire,  passed  the  remaining  part  of  the  winter  in  laying  all 
waste  around  them  with  fire  and  sword.     Edmund  raised  an 
army  in  Mercia  to  oppose  them.    When  he  had  raised  it,  the 
men  could  not  act,  it  is  said,  unless  the  king  were  with  them, 
and  unless  they  had  the  assistztnce  of  the  burgesses  of  Loo- 
don  :*  and,  as  these  conditions  were  not  complied  with,  the 
army  dispersed,  giving  another  proof  of  the  dissolution  of 
government  in  England.     Nevertheless,  another  eflfort  of 
authority  was  made,  and  Ethelred  ordered  a  general  array, 
requiring  every  man  to  take  the  field,  under  pain  of  the 
highest  penalties  which  the  laws  appointed  for  neglect  of 
duty.     He  himself  was  the  defaulter ;  for  when  the  force 
which  had  thus  been  brought  together  sent  to  him  in  Lon- 
don, and  besought  him  to  join  them  with  all  the  aid  he  could 
collect,  he  came,  indeed, — but  it  was  only  to  receive  a  warn- 
ing that  he  must  take  heed  unto  himself,  and  in  anywise 
beware  how  he  gave  battle,  because  those  persons  on  whom 
he  relied  meant  to  betray  him.     This  he  believed,  as  one 
who  had  too  much  cause  for  believing  it ;  and,  forsaking  the 
army,  he  went  back  to  London.     Canute,  meantime,  was 
gaining  over  towns  and  villages  to  his  party,  and,  with  in- 
defatigable policy,  never  unemployed,  holding  councils  by 
night  and  fighting  by  day  :f  and  Edmund,  finding  that  no 
successful  stand  was  to  be  made  in  Wessex  or  Mercia,  united 
himself  with  Uhtred,  a  Northumbrian  earl :  but  when  it  was 
supposed  that  they  would  march  against  the  invader,  they 
employed  themselves  in  laying  waste  the  counties  of  Staf- 
fordshire, Shropshire,  and  Cheshire,  in  punishment  for  their 
submission  to  the  Danes.     Edmund  Ironside  was  inferior  in 
courage  to  no  man ;  but  he  was  as  cruel  as  his  competitor, 
and  far  inferior  to  him  in  ability.   While  he  was  thus  inflict- 
ing additional  evils  upon  his  miserable  and  helpless  country- 
men, Canute,  as  a  means  of  counter-policy,  but  in  the  same 
spirit,  doing  like  hurt  in  all  places  where  he  came,  went 
through  Buckingham,  Bedford,  and  Huntingdon  shires,  and 
so  into  Northamptonshire,  along  the  fens,  to  Stamford ;  then 
into  Lincoln  and  Nottinghamshire,  and  on  towards  York, 
"  not  sparingto  do  what  mischief  might  be  devised  wherever 
he  went."    This  had  the  effect  of  recalling  Uhtred  from  his 
marauding  career.    He  hastened  northward,  "  and  submitted 

*  Sax.  Chron.  195.  William  of  Malmesbiiry  says,  the  Mercians  repeat- 
edly assembled  and  stood  forward  to  resist;—"  Would  but  the  king  come 
and  command  whither  they  were  to  march,  and  bring  with  him  the  leading 
men  of  lK>ndon,  they  were  ready  to  shed  their  blood  for  their  country." 
(2-21.)  This  seems  as  if,  like  the  Danes,  they  were  stipulating  to  be  paid  and 
fed. 

t  William  of  Malmesbury,  221. 


BATTLE  OF  SCEORSTANE.  93 

for  need,  and  all  the  Northumbrians  with  him ;"  but,  though 
he  gave  hostages,  he  was  put  to  death  by  Edric's  advice ; 
and  Canute  gave  Northumbria  to  his  own  kinsman  and  ally, 
earl  Eric,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  northern 
chiefs. 

Edmund,  when  this  last  expedition  had  terminated  as  ill 
as  it  deserved,  went  back  to  London  to  his  father,  who  ended 
his  unhappy  life  there  on  St.  George's  day.  The  chiefs  who 
were  at  that  time  there  agreed  with  the  Londoners  in  choosmg 
Edmund  for  their  king,  overlooking,  as  in  the  case  of  Athel- 
stan,  his  illegitimate  birth  for  the  sake  of  his  personal  quali- 
ties, and  because  his  legitimate  brothers  were  all  too  young. 
In  his  courage,  in  his  surpassing  bodily  strength,  and  in  his 
popular  qualities,  Edmund  Ironside  resembled  Richard  Cceur 
de  Lion;  he  resembled  him  also  in  the  prodigality  with 
which  his  courage  was  exerted,  and  in  the  ill  fortune  that 
attended  it.  His  first  business  was  to  reduce  Wessex  to 
obedience.  While  he  thus  was  engaged,  Canute,  who, 
marching  back  from  the  north,  had  collected  all  Kis  force  at 
his  fleet,  moved  with  his  ships  to  the  Theimes,  and  stationed 
them  at  Greenwich.  London  bridge  had  been  so  well  re- 
paired, that  he  did  not  deem  it  advisable  to  repeat  the  ha- 
zardous way  of  assault  by  which  Olaf  had  forced  a  passage 
there ;  he  therefore  dug  a  canal  round  the  South wark  for- 
tress, and  brought  his  fleet  through  this  channel,  to  the  west- 
ern side  of  the  bridge.*  This,  which  implies  extraordinary 
foresight  and  perseverance  for  those  times,  enabled  him  to 
invest  London  on  all  sides ;  so  that  no  one  could  go  in  or 
out.  But  the  citizens,  relying  upon  their  heroic  king,  with- 
stood him,  and  resisted  all  his  attacks.  Edmund  hastened 
from  the  west  to  give  him  battle.  An  action  was  fought  at 
Peonnan,f  a  second  at  a  place  called  Sceorstane ;:{:  and  this 

♦  Sax.  Chron.  197. 

t  "  Seat  Gillingham,"  says  the  Saxon  Chronicle  (197.)  which  is  near 
Chatham;  and  here  the  Annals  of  St.  Augustine  mention,  that  a  sharp 
battle  was  fought  between  Edmund  and  Canute.  (Beauties  of  England  and 
Wales,  viii.  681.)  But,  according  to  Camden,  the  scene  of  this  battle  was  at 
Pen,  a  little  vilLige  near  the  source  of  that  stream  which  gives  name  t» 
Bruton.  (62,  C3.) 

J  Gibson  supposes  this  to  be  Slierstone  in  Wiltshire,  because  it  is  near 
Pen,  because  several  barrows  thereabouts  put  it  beyond  all  dispute  that 
there  has  been  a  battle  there,  and  because  the  inhabitants  have  a  tradition 
that  it  was  against  the  Danes.  (Camd.  101.)  Camden  (253.)  seems  rather  to 
think  that  the  battle  was  pear  the  Shire  stone,  which  divides  four  counties, 
near  the  village  of  Long  Compton,  where,  in  the  circle  of  stones  (complete 
in  his  time)calledUolle'nil  Stones,  be  fuunda  monument  of  some  great  vic- 
tory. But  I  believe  such  circles  were  not  sepulchral,  and  the  little  distance 
between  Sherstone  and  Pen,  renders  Gibson's  conjecture  much  more  pro- 
bable. 


94  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  northern  historians  represent  as  one  of  the  most  famous 
battles  in  those  times.  It  lasted  two  days.  On  the  second, 
Edmund  encountered  the  Danish  king,  and  aimed  a  blow  at 
him  with  his  sword.  Canute  interposed  his  shield,  so  as  to 
save  himself;  but  the  stroke  was  given  with  such  force, 
that  it  cleft  the  shield  and  the  neck  of  the  horse.  The 
Danes  rushed  in,  to  protect  their  king  from  his  terrible  ad- 
versary ;  and  the  traitor,  Edric,  is  said  at  this  crisis  to  have 
thrown  the  English  into  confusion,  by  hoisting  a  head  upon 
a  spear,  and  calling  upon  the  Dorset  and  Devonshire  men  to 
flee,  for  it  was  that  of  their  Edmund,  who  was  slain.  That 
brave  king  could  not  make  the  deceit  known  in  time,  nor,  by 
his  greatest  exertions,  restore  confidence  to  an  army  who 
thought  that  in  losing  him  they  had  lost  all  hopes  of  victory. 
He  kept  the  field,  however,  till  night  put  an  end  to  the  con- 
test; and  during  the  night  the  Danes  decamped,  not  ventur- 
ing to  renew  it  against  one  who  would  have  been  invincible 
if  personal  .prowess  could  have  insured  success.* 

It  is  said  that  Edmund,  seeing  Edric's  treason  in  the  bat- 
tle, threw  a  spear  at  him.  The  traitor  escaped  by  starting 
aside ;  but  the  weapon  was  hurled  with  such  force,  that  it 
transfixed  two  soldiers.  Yet,  so  easily  was  the  king  de- 
ceived, or  so  accomplished  was  Edric  in  all  the  arts  of  de- 
ceit, that  a  reconciliation  between  them  was  presently 
brought  about.  Edmund's  credulity  may,  in  Some  degree, 
be  explained  by  the  early  ascendency  which  Edric,  under 
whom,  as  a  foster-father,  he  had  been  bred  up,  had  obtained 
over  him;  but  there  was  no  correspondent  feeling  on  the 
other  part,  for  it  was  in  concert  with  Canute  that  the  traitor 
now  acted,  in  order  to  impede  the  progress  of  one  whom  it 
was  more  easy  to  circumvent  than  to  resist  in  the  field.  The 
last  battle  had  the  effect  of  encouraging  the  West  Saxons, 
who  were  before  divided,  to  throw  off  the  Danish  yoke,  and 
acknowledge  their  native  king ;  and  Edmund  was  then 
strong  enough  to  advance  to  London,  and  relieve  the  citizens 
from  their  state  of  siege,  driving  the  enemy  toward  their 
ships,  which  were  farther  up  the  river.  He  pursued ;  forded 
the  Thames  at  Brentford,  and  defeated  them  with  great 
slaughter :  but  many  of  his  own  people,  who  went  before 
the  army  with  the  hope  of  plundering,  were,  through  their 
own  folly,  drowned  ;  and,  while  Edmund  found  it  necessary 
to  go  into  the  west  for  the  purpose  of  recruiting  his  forces, 
Canute  returned  to  London,  and  beset  it,  and  fought  strongly 
against  it  both  by  water  and  land.     Weary  of  the  resolute 

*  Sax.  Chron.  197.  William  of  Malmesbury,  222.  Turner,  ii.  485— <88. 
Antiq.  Celt.Scand.  129, 130. 


BATTLE  OF  ASSANDUN.  95 

resistance  which  he  found  in  the  citizens,  he  left  the  Thames, 
sailed  for  the  East  Anglian  coast,  entered  the  Orwell,  and, 
laying  Mercia  waste  with  fire  and  sword,  made  a  destructive 
circuit  to  the  Medway.  By  this  time  Edmund  had  collected 
so  large  a  force,  that  the  chronicler  calls  it  all  the  English 
nation.  He  proceeded  into  Kent,  drove  the  Danes  out  of  the 
Isle  of  Shepey ;  and  it  is  said  that  he  might  have  then  to- 
tally defeated  Canute,  if  Edric  had  not  withheld  him  from 
pursuing  his  advantage.  His  army  could  not  be  kept  to- 
gether; and  therefore  it  was  to  be  re-collected,  while  the 
enemy  were  again  ravaging  Mercia.  Once  more  Edmund  led 
"  the  English  nation"  against  their  invaders,  and  a  battle  was 
fought  at  Assandun*  in  Essex.  No  former  battle  ever 
proved  so  disastrous  to  the  people  of  this  island ;  and  ex- 
cept the  battle  of  Hastings,  no  latter  one.  For,  when  Ed- 
mund inspiring  his  men  with  his  own  intrepidity,  was  on 
the  point  of  obtaining  a  great  and  decisive  victory,  Edric, 
with  all  the  force  under  his  command,  took  flight,  leaving 
him  thus  to  contend  against  an  overpowering  superiority  of 
numbers.  The  bravest  chiefs,  Ulfkjrtel  was  among  them, 
would  not  survive  the  overthrow  of  the  nation ;  they  gathered 
their  faithful  followers,  and,  forming  a  compact  body,  fought 
till  they  perished  to  a  man  ;  the  Saxon  Chronicle  says  that 
all  the  nobility  of  the  English  nation  were  then  cut  off. 
Bishops  and  abbots,  as  well  as  ealdermen,  sacrificed  them- 
selves in  brave  despair;  but  Edmund  Ironside,  with  a  braver 
hope,  fled  from  the  field  almost  alone ;  not  to  seek  an  asy- 
lum, but  to  collect,  if  possible,  another  army,  and  fall  upon 
the  Danes  while  they  were  exulting  over  their  recent  suc- 
cess in  the  confidence  of  vain  security.-)- 

Canute,  acting  with  equal  promptitude,  hzistened  against 
him  as  soon  as  he  heard  where  he  was ;  but  such  was  Ed- 
mund's popularity,  that,  when  the  Danes  entered  Gloucester- 
shire, an  army  had  been  raised,  and  of  such  force  as  would 
have  rendered  the  issue  of  a  battle  doubtful  where  there 
was  no  traitor  to  turn  the  scale.  It  is  said  that,  when  every 
thing  was  ready  for  a  general  action,  Edmund  challenged 
his  adversary  to  a  single  combat,  that  the  conqueror  might 
enjoy  the  kingdom  as  the  reward  of  his  own'  prowess,  and 
all  farther  effusion  of  blood  on  either  side  be  speired.  The 
Deme  is  said  to  have  declined  the  unequal  adventure,  being 

*  What  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  Danish  camp  may  still  be  traced  at 
Canewdon,  which  adjoins  Ashingdon  on  tlie  east.  It  includes  about  six 
acres. 

t  Sax.  Chron.  197—199.  William  of  Malmesbury,  223, 224.  Antiq.  Celt.- 
Scand.  137. 


96  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

himself  below  the  mean  standard;*  whereas  Ironside,  in 
strength  and  stature,  so  greatly  exceeded  most  men,  that  the 
challenge,f  under  such  circumstances,  could  be  regarded  as 
no  proof  of  gallantry ;  and  it  is  added,  that  he  proposed  a 
division  of  the  kingdom  between  them,  on  the  plea  that,  as 
each  of  their  fathers  had  possessed  it,  each  had  equal  preten- 
sions. The  proposal,  with  whomsoever  it  may  have  ori- 
ginated, was  supported  by  Edric,  a  man  whose  abilities 
were  as  remarkable  as  his  baseness ;  by  all  the  members  of 
the  witan,  who  were  then  assembled ;  and  by  the  general 
cry  of  the  land  for  peace.  A  conference,  accordingly,  was 
held  at  an  island  called  Alney,  which  the  Severn  forms 
close  to  Gloucester.  There  was  little  difficulty  concerning 
terms,  when  the  English  had  submitted  to  treat.  Edmund 
consented  to  what  he  had  no  means  of  opposing,  and  retjiin- 
ed  only  the  old  kingdom  of  Wessex ;  while  Canute  took  to 
himself  Mercia,  East  Anglia,  and  Northumbria,  as  the  lion's 
share.  The  two  kings  now  became  allies  and  sworn  brothers. 
On  the  one  part  it  was  such  a  brotherhood  as  Cain's  :  they 
exchanged  arms  and  garments ;  they  confirmed  the  treaty  with 
pledges  and  with  oaths ;  and  they  settled  the  pay  of  the  army  ; 
words  which  can  only  imply  that  the  Dane  insisted  upon  a 
payment  of  money,  as  well  as  this  large  cession  of  territory. 
The  money  was  to  be  levied  upon  that  part  of  the  kingdom 
only  which  Edmund  was  permitted  to  retain.  The  Danes 
went  to  their  ships  with  the  spoils  which  they  had  gathered ; 
they  made  the  Londoners  purchase  peace  at  the  price  of 
10,500/. ;  they  then  brought  their  ships  to  London,  and  pro- 
vided for  themselves  winter-quarters ;  and  before  the  winter 
set  in,  Canute  was  rid  of  his  sworn  brother  by  death.  The 
contemporary  chronicler  barely  stales  that  Edmund  died, 
and  was  buried  with  his  grandfather,  Edgar,  at  Glaston- 
bury ;  but  the  northern  historians  assert  that  he  perished  by 
Canute's  orders,  and  by  the  agency  of  Edric  Streone.:|: 

*  This  cannot  be  true,  because,  in  the  Knytlinga  Saga,  Canute  is  de- 
scribed as  being  of  great  stature  and  strength.  Antiq  Celt.-Scand.  p.  148. 
Holberg,  however,  (i.  130.)  follows  Malmesbury's  account. 

t  It  is  not  mentioned  by  the  Saxon  Chronicler,  nor  by  the  author  of  the 
Knytlinga  Saga.  Both  may  have  omitted  the  circumstance  (if  it  really 
occurred,)  as  not  honourable  to  Canute  ;  for  this  part  of  the  Chronicle  was 
probably  written  under  the  Danish  dynasty.  WiUiam  of  Malmesbury  is,  I 
believe,  the  oldest  author  on  whose  authority  it  rests ;  and  Henry  Hun- 
tingdon adds  to  his  account,  that  the  combat  took  place,  and  that  Canute, 
finding  himself  likely  to  be  defeated,  proposed  terms.  The  story  may  be 
suspected  to  have  had  its  origin  in  some  lay  composed  when  Edmund  Iron- 
aide  was  fresh  in  remembrance  as  a  popular  hero. 

t  Sax.  Chron.  199,  200.  William  of  Malmesbury,  224,  225.  Antiq.  Cell.- 
Scand.  139.  Holinsbed  (i.  726.)  inclines  to  the  opinion  that  Edmund  died  a 
natural  death :  the  Encomium  Emma:  is  his  authority,  where  it  is  said  that 


CANUTE  KINO  OF  ENGLAND.  97 

This  event  put  an  end  to  the  long  struggle  between  --.,« 
the  English  and  the  Danes, — a  struggle  in  which  the 
Danes  prevailed  because  of  their  naval  power.  Canute 
found  no  diflSculty  now  in  taking  to  himself  the  whole 
government.  He  deemed  it  expedient  at  first  to  give  Mercia 
to  Edric  as  the  price  of  his  manifold  treasons,  and  to  reward 
his  confederates  Thurkill  and  Eric  with  East  Anglia  and 
Northumbria ;  retaining  only  Wessex  to  himself,  but  with 
the  supreme  authority.  He  soon,  however,  found  means  of 
putting  Edric  to  death;  and  afterwards  an  opportunity 
occurred  of  expelling  the  two  northern  adventurers ;  for 
Canute  was  not  scrupulous  as  to  any  means  whereby  his 
power  might  be  extended  or  secured.  A  half-brother  of 
Edmund's,  then  but  a  child,  was  put  to  death  as  soon  as  he 
could  get  him  into  his  hands ;  and  the  two  infants  whom 
Edmund  had  left  would  have  shared  the  same  fate,  if  he  had 
not  been  warned  not  to  provoke  the  English,  by  whom  the 
memory  of  this  brave  and  unfortunate  king  was  long  and 
affectionately  cherished.  He  sent  them,  upon  this,  into 
Sweden,  with  the  intention  that  they  should  there  be  de- 
stroyed ;  but  the  king  of  that  country  preserved  them  by 
sending  them  into  Hungary,  where  they  found  a  generous 
protector  in  king  Salomon.  The  two  sons  whom  Ethelred 
had  left  by  Emma  were  safe  under  their  uncle's  protection 
in  Normandy.  Canute  secured  himself  against  any  danger 
from  that  quarter  by  seeking  and  obtaining  their  mother  in 
marriage ;  and  when  he  found  himself  really  as  well  as 
nominally  king  of  England,  he  began  to  act  as  if  he  had  the 
interest  of  the  country  at  heart.  It  was  necessary  to  relieve 
it  from  the  burden  of  those  troops  by  whose  services  the 
conquest  had  been  obtained  ;  but  the  pajrment,  which,  .  j..  „ 
by  the  treaty  with  Edmund,  was  to  have  been  raised 
upon  Wessex  alone,  and  which  amounted  to  the  then  enor- 
mous sum  of  72,000/.,  besides  what  the  Londoners  had 
paid,  was  levied  upon  the  whole  of  England,  all  now  being 
equally  his  subjects.  He  then  sent  the  greater  part  of  his 
army  to  Denmark,  retaining  only  forty  ships.     The  next 

f)roof  of  his  wisdom  was,  that  he  made  the  Danes  consent  to 
ive  under  the  laws  of  the  land,  as  they  had  been  established 
by  Edgar.  In  most  respects,  the  conquest  by  Canute  proved 
beneficial  to  England,  because  from  that  time  forth  the 
Anglo-Saxons  and  Anglo-Danes  became  one  people;  ulti- 

'  God,  being  mindful  or  his  old  doctrine,  that  every  kinedom  divided  in 
itoelf  cannot  long  st^nd,  shortly  after  took  Iklmund  out  or  this  life,  and  by 
such  means  seemed  to  take  pity  upon  the  English  kingdodi ;  lest,  if  both 
the  kings  should  have  continued  in  life  together,  they  should  both  have 
lived  in  great  danger,  and  the  land  in  trouble." 

Voi,.  I.  1 


98  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

mately  it  was  not  less  so  to  Denmark,  though  that  kingdom 
seemed  at  first  to  become  an  appendage  to  the  wealthier  and 
more  civilized  one  which  it  had  subdued.*  That  countries 
so  remote  from  each  other  should  be  united  under  one  go- 
vernment can  seldom  be  convenient ;  that  they  should  long 
continue  so  is  never  likely,  and  was  in  that  age  impossible. 
This  Canute  seems  well  to  have  understood ;  and  preferring 
England  for  his  abode,  and  giving  it  the  first  place  in  his 
titles,  he  took  every  possible  means  for  introducing  English 
civilization  into  Denmark.  There  was  no  money  in  that 
country,  except  what  was  introduced  by  piracy,  till  Canute's 
coinage  ;f  his  were  the  first  written  laws  in  Denmark,  and 
he  derived  them  from  English  sources ;  he  was  the  first 
northern  king  who  encouraged  commerce, — the  sole  trade,  if 
such  it  may  be  called,  which  had  existed  till  then  being 
such  piratical  partnerships:}:  as  exist  at  this  day  among  the 
Barbary  states,  and  cannot  be  said  to  be  wholly  extinct  in 
Christian  countries,  so  long  as  privateering  is  sanctioned 
by  the  laws.  And  though  he  did  not  live  to  the  age  of  forty, 
he  yet  reigned  long  enough  to  see  the  seeds  of  improvement 
take  root  and  flourish  in  Denmark  ;  to  know  that  the  system 
of  piracy,  by  aid  of  which  he  had  established  his  own  so- 
vereignty, was  so  materially  curbed,  that  it  could  no  longer 
aflfect  the  fate  of  kingdoms ;  and  to  re-establish  the  strength 
of  England  and  its  naval  power,  wherein  its  strength  and 
its  best  means  of  defence  essentially  consisted. 

No  anecdote  is  better  known  and  more  frequently  repeat- 
ed than  that  of  Canute  taking  his  seat  upon  the  sea-shore, 
and  as  the  Lord  of  Ocean,  forbidding  the  rising  waves  to 
approach  and  wet  his  feet;  not  in  the  insane  supposition 
that  the  sea  would  hear  and  obey  his  voice,  but  that  he 
might  read  a  moral  lesson§  to  those  who  were  about  his 
person.  The  story  is  in  character  with  a  stage  of  society 
in  which  symbolical  actions  were  found  necessary  for  im- 
pressing the  minds  of  men ;  and  with  the  personage  him- 
self;— for  prosperity  had  softened,  not  corrupted  him,  and 
he  is  one  of  the  few  conquerors  whose  greater  and  better 
qualities  were  developed  in  peace. ||  But  although  that 
scene  was  designed  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  declara- 
tion of  his  devotional  feelings  more  striking;  the  power 
which  he  possessed  authorized  his  assertion,  that  the  seas 

*  Holberg,  i.  133.  149.  f  Ibid.  151.  t  Ibid.  116. 

§  According  to  Selden  (ii.  1325.)  a  political  one  as  well : — "  Ipsum  se 
interea  maris  dorainatorem  sque  ac  insuls,  esse,  palam  est  bic  professus." 

II  The  character  of  this  great  king  has  never  been  more  justly  appreciated 
than  by  Mr.  Turner,  ii.  504—513. 


CANUTE.  99 

belonged  to  his  dominion.  No  other  king,*  either  Scandi- 
navian or  British,  has  ruled  over  such  extensive  possessions 
in  Europe:  he  was  king  of  England,  Denmark,  Norway, 
and  part  of  Sweden ;  and  Scotland  and  Cambria  might 
have  been  added  to  his  titles,  for  it  was  not  an  empty  boast 
that  the  Basileus,  as  he  styled  himself,  of  the  Anglo-Saxons, 
ruled  over  six  nations.  He  was  called  Canute  the  Rich,  as 
well  as  Canute  the  Great.  It  is  more  remarkable,  that, 
though  he  was  but  in  his  twentieth  year  at  the  time  of  his 
father's  death,  and  reigned  only  twenty-one  years,  he  should 
also  have  been  called  Canute  the  Old  ;f  but  this  was  be- 
cause, among  his  turbulent  countrymen,  few  kings  had 
reigned  so  long,  and  they  measured  his  life  by  his  reign.  It 
was  long  enough  for  those  great  purposes  which  were  effect- 
ed in  the  order  of  Providence  through  his  instrumentality. 
The  struggle  between  the  Danes  and  Anglo-Seixons,  which 
had  continued  more  than  200  years,  was  finally  ended  by 
his  accession ;  and  fifty  years  of  comparative  tranquillity 
after  his  decease  completed  the  healing  work  which  he  had 
begun,  and  united  the  two  nations  by  the  close  and  indis- 
soluble ties  of  blood,  language,  and  religion*. 

How  greatly  the  commerce,  and  consequently  the  naval 
strength  of  England,  had  improved  under  his  reign,  appears 
by  the  remarkable  fact,  that  the  seamen  of  London  are  said 
to  have  borne  a  great  part  in  determining  the  succession, 
and  choosing  an  elder  son  of  Canute's,  Harold  Hare-  ,„„c 
foot  by  name,  instead  of  Hardicanute,  whom  earl 
Godwin  and  the  people  of  Wessex  would  have  preferred, 
because  queen  Emma,  a  favourite  with  the  English,  was  his 
mother.  It  was  not  in  any  tumultuous  assembly  that  their 
voice  was  heard,  but  in  the  Witenagemot,  the  great  council 
of  the  realm,  held  at  Oxford ;:):  and  the  persons  who  repre- 
sented the  merchants  of  London  were,  no  doubt,  §  such  mer- 
chants themselves  as  having  fulfilled  the  condition  required 

•  Holinshed,  i.  730.    Holberg.  i.  117. 

t  Holberg,  i.  143.  note.  The  name  which  was  variously  written  Knutr. 
Knud,  Cnut,  and  Chnut,  was  extended  into  Canutus  by  the  pope,  who,  in 
the  twelfth  century,  canonized  the  royal  saint  so  called.  (Ibid.  i.  197.)  I 
suppose  the  history  of  Abraham  served  as  a  precedent ;  though  the  vowel 
was  evidently  inserted  euphonia  gratid,  and  instead  of  altering  the  mean- 
ing of  the  name  Kanoris  causd,  deprived  it  of  its  meaning.  The  first  to 
whom  the  name  is  said  to  have  been  given,  was  exposed  in  the  woods  im- 
mediately after  his  birth,  and  was  so  called  from  the  knot  (knut)  of  a  silken 
handkerchief  which  was  lx>und  round  his  head,  and  in  w  hich  some  gold  waa 
tied  up.  Ihre  gives  this  account  from  the  History  of  Olaf  Trygguson.  But 
he  adds,  that  cnut,  or  cnaut,  signifies  in  Anglo-Saxon,  bti\d,  Latino-barbare, 
Canutus:  and  this  is  the  more  likely  etymology,  an  obvious  nieauing  being 
more  to  be  trusted  than  a  romantic  tale. 

X  Sax.  Chron.  207.  §  Henry,  ii.  41& 


100  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

by  Athelstane,  had  advanced  themselves  to  the  rank  of 
thanes.  Canute,  at  his  death,  had  wisely  divided  an  empire, 
consisting  of  dominioins  so  extensive  and  so  far  apart,  that 
they  could  not  be  kept  together  by  any  hand  less  vigorous 
than  his  ow^n.  A  division  of  England,  which  he  had  not  intend- 
ed, had  nearly  been  made  now ;  for  Godwin  held  Wessex 
in  Hardicanute's  name,  while  London  and  all  north  of  the 
Thames  acknowledged  Harold ;  but  as  Hardicanute  offended 
his  party  by  lingering  in  Denmark,  Harold  was  "chosen 
king  over  all."  During  his  short  reign,  the  navy  was  main- 
in4n  tained  upon  the  same  establishment  as  in  the  latter 
years  of  his  father,  sixteen  ships,  and  in  the  same 
manner.*  When  Hardicanute  was  sent  for  to  succeed  him, 
he  came  with  a  fleet  of  sixty  sail  to  take  possession,  and 
soon  lost  the  good  will,  not  only  of  the  nation  but  of  his  own 
partisans,  by  exacting  ship-money  for  sixty-two  ships  at  the 
old  rate  of  assessment.  21,099/.  was  the  sum  raised :  and  in 
the  year  ensuing  half  that  sum  for  thirty-two  ships.  The 
persons  who  collected  this  tax  at  Worcester  were  killed  by 
the  people,  though  they  sought  shelter  in  the  cathedral ;  in 
vengeance  for  which,  that  city  was  burnt,  the  citizens'  pro- 
perty given  over  as  a  spoil  to  those  who  were  sent  to  punish 
them,  and  great  part  of  the  county  laid  waste.  Tliis  drew 
npon  the  king  the  curses  of  the  people,  which  were  probably 
more  due  to  his  counsellors  than  to  him ;  for  though  he  in- 
herited few  of  his  father's  virtues,  and  none  of  his  great 
qualities,  he  was  of  an  easy,  affable,  and  generous  temper. 
He  gave  way,  indeed,  to  an  abominable  impulse  of  revenge 
when  he  ordered  Harold's  body  to  be  disinterred,  beheaded, 
and  cast  into  the  Thames,  from  whence  it  was  dragged  out 
in  a  fisherman's  net,  and  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  the 
Danes  ;  but  the  shame  of  advising  this  has  been  cast  upon 
Alphric,  the  archbishop  of  York;  and  in  Hardicanute  the 

•  On  tiiy  'Dasum  man,  ^ealtt  xvi  fcipan  see  gelcepe  bamnlan  viu  mapc. 
(Sax.  Chron.  211.)  "  At  the  rate  of  eight  marks  for  each  steersman,"  Mr. 
Ingram  renders  this.  Henry  (ii.  419.)  says,  "  Each  mariner  was  allowed 
eight  mancusses,  and  each  commander  twelve  mancusses  a  year  for  pay  and 
provisions,  which  was  a  very  liberal  allowance  for  those  times."  This  dili- 
gent and  most  respectable  historian  (who  follows  Holinshed  here)  is  certain- 
ly wrong  ;  and  the  ratio  which  he  has  given  between  the  allowances  ought 
to  have  made  him  suspect  this.  Hamn,  is  explained  by  Ihre  as  denoting  the 
certain  number  of  persons  who,  from  a  certain  portion  of  land,  were  taken 
for  the  sea  service,  forty-two  such  hamnas,  according  to  one  authority,  con- 
stituting a  ship's  company  :  but  this  must  have  depended  on  the  size'ofthe 
ship  The  word  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  has,  in  all  likelihood,  the  same 
meaning,  as  well  as  the  same  origin. 

William  of  Malmesbury  says,  that  this  "  rigid  and  intolerable  tribute" 
was  exacted  in  order  that  the  king  might  pay  twenty  marks,  according  to 
his  promise,  to  every  soldier  in  his  fleet. 


THE  DEATH  OF  HARDICANTTE.  101 

excess  of  hatred  had  its  cause  in  strong  natural  affection,  his 
brother  Alfred  having  been  most  cruelly  and  treacherously 
put  to  death  by  that  king's  orders. 

Toward  the  living  persons  who  were  implicated  in  that 
tragedy  he  was  more  placable ;  from  the  bishop  of  Crediton 
he  was  satisfied  with  a  pecuniary  atonement ;  and  he  allowed 
earl  Godwin  to  exculpate  himself  by  oath.  That  powerful 
earl  presented  him  with  a  ship  splendidly  equipped  and 
manned  ;  its  stem  was  covered  with  gilding,  and  there  were 
eighty  soldiers  on  board,  each  having  two  bracelets  on  either 
arm,  weighing  sixteen  ounces  of  gold  ;  their  helmets  were 
gilt,  they  were  armed  in  gilt  habergeons,  and  each  bore  a 
Danish  axe  on  his  left  shoulder  and  a  spear  in  his  right 
hand,  both  arms  and  Jirmour  being  inlaid  with  silver  and 
gold,  and  all  so  adorned,  says  an  early  historian,  as  that 
splendour,  vying  with  terror,  might  conceal  the  iron  beneath 
the  gold.  The  gift,  doubtless,  was  chosen  as  that  which 
would  be  most  acceptable  to  a  maritime  prince ;  and  the 
splendour  of  the  equipment  marks  the  increasing  refinement 
of  the  age.  When  the  sister  of  this  king  was  given  in 
marriage  to  the  emperor  Henry  III.,  the  solemnity  of  her 
espousals  was  rendered  so  imposing,  and  so  great  werQ  the 
pomp  and  pageantry  with  which  she  was  conducted  to  the 
place  of  embarkation,  that  100  years  afterwards  ballads, 
describing  it,  used  to  be  sung  about  the  streets.*  These 
things  show  the  wealth  of  the  country ;  they  show  also  how 
rapidly  it  had  recovered  from  its  losses,  and  prospered  under 
a  strong  government,  which  secured  it  against  invaders,  and 
.maintained  order  at  home. 

Hardicanute  died  of  apoplexy  in  the  second  year  of  his 
reign,  at  a  feast,  and  in  the  act  of  drinking ;  and  the  people 
of  London  immediately  chose  his  half  brother,  Edward,  the 
only  surviving  son  of  Ethelred,  to  succeed  him.  The  king- 
doms of  England  and  Denmark  were  thus  separated.  Nor- 
way had  previously  been  recovered  from  its  Danish  king  by 
Magnus,  the  son  of  king  St.  Olaf ;  and  Magnus  and  Hardi- 
canute had  made  an  agreement,  to  the  observance  of  which 
twelve  of  the  chief  persons  in  each  kingdom  had  sworn,  that 
the  survivor  should  inherit  the  other's  dominions.  The 
object  of  this  agreement  was  to  secure  the  perpetual  and 
peaceful  union  of  Norway  with  Denmark;  but  on  Hardica- 
nute's  death,  when  Magnus  had  succeeded  to  the  Danish 
throne,  he  laid  claim  to  that  of  England  also,  by  virtue  of 
this  agreement,  and  sent  an  embassy  thither  to  make  his 

*  William  of  Malinesbury,  239. 
i2 


102  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

pretensions  known ;  intimating,  that  if  his  right  wert  rtot 
willingly  acknowledged,  he  would  come  with  a  Danish  and 
Norwegian  fleet,  and  recover  the  possessions  of  his  prede- 
cessor. On  this  occasion,  Edward,  cold  and  feeble  as  he 
was,  replied  to  the  ambassadors  with  English  spirit.  "  Ca- 
nute, my  step-father,"  said  he,  "  kept  the  kingdom  from  me, 
and  his  sons  took  it  to  themselves  after  him.  God  has  now 
been  pleased  to  restore  it  me,  and  I  will  defend  it  to  the  last 
drop  of  my  blood."  When  this  reply  was  repeated  to  Mag- 
nus, he  made  answer,  "  King  Edward  may  keep  his  father's 
kingdom  in  peace  for  me ;  and  I  will  content  myself  with 
those  which  God  has  given  me."*  The  Confessor,  as  he 
was  afterwards  called,  placed  little  reliance  upon  this  decla- 
ration ;  and  one  of  the  few  acts  of  vigour  which  he  ever  per- 
formed was  to  embark  on  board  the  fleet,  and  take  his  station 
with  it  at  Sandwich,  to  guard  against  the  invasion  which  he 
expected  ;|  but  Magnus  had  no  intention  of  invading  him. 
Soon  afterwards,  Sweyne,  who  contended  for  the  crown  of 
Denmark,  proposed  to  Edward  to  assist  him  with  fifty  ships; 
but  it  is  said  that  all  the  people  thought  this  unwise;  and  it 
was  prevented,  because  Magnus  had  a  large  navy,  and  ex- 
pelled his  competitor. :J: 

After  the  death  of  Magnus,  Sweyne  again  solicited  the  aid 
of  a  fleet,  and  it  was  again  resisted  by  the  people.  The 
motive  of  their  resistance  perhaps  was,  that,  since  the  death 
of  Canute,  the  seas  were  again  infested  by  pirates.  Two  sea 
rovers,  Lothen  and  Irling  by  name,  came  to  Sandwich  with 
I  f..j     five-and-twenty  ships,  and  carried  off  a  great  booty  in 

■  gold  and  silver,  and  prisoners.  They  then  attempted 
to  plunder  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  but  the  inhabitants  withstood 
Uiem  both  by  land  and  sea,  and  drove  them  from  that  coast. 
Upon  this  they  made  for  the  opposite  coast  of  Essex,  and 
there  made  spoil  of  whatever  they  could  find;  prisoners 
being  especially  valued,  for  the  slave-trade  in  which  such 
merchants  dealt.  They  found  a  market  for  their  booty  in  the 
ports  of  Baldwin,  earl  of  Flanders ;  and  having  there  dis- 
posed of  it,  they  returned  eastward  to  their  own  country. 
1  n4H     Sandwich  was  again  plundered  in  the  ensuing  year, 

*  and  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  the  best  inhabitants 
were  slain  in  defending  themselves.     Edward  and  his  chiefs 

•  Pontanus,  173.    Holberg,  i.  153,  162. 

t  The  Saxon  Chronicle  says,  that  Magnus  was  prevented  from  coming 
hither  by  his  contests  with  Sweyne  in  Denmarit ;  but  the  Danish  his- 
torians give  Magnus  the  Good  credit  for  the  sincerity  as  well  a»  the 
moderation  of  his  reply,  and  notice  it  as  one  of  the  best  acts  of  his  iilus- 
triouB  life. 

tSax.  Chron.  312—216. 


GODWIN  RAVAGES  TirE  COAST.  103 

Rut  to  sea  in  quest  of  the  enemy,  witliout  overtaking-  them, 
[aval  aid  was  now  requested  of  him  by  the  emperor,  who 
was  about  to  lead  an  army  against  earl  Baldwin,  and  wished 
Edward  to  cut  off  the  escape  of  his  enemy  by  sea.  TTiisthe 
people  seemed  to  have  considered  as  a  national  concern,  be- 
cause of  the  hail)our  which  Baldwin  afforded  to  the  sea 
rovers ;  and  Edward  accordingly  lay  at  Sandwich  with  a 
largB  fleet,  till  the  emperor  had  reduced  that  earl  to  submis- 
sion. For  awhile  this  seems  to  have  checked  the  reviving 
spirit  of  piracy ;  and  though  earl  Sweyne,  one  of  Godwin's 
turbulent  sons,  at  one  time  infested  the  coast,  and  at  another 
a  fleet  of  six-and-thirty  ships  from  Ireland,  with  the  aid  of 
the  Welsh  king,  Edward  ventured  to  diminish  his  naval 
force,  retaining  only  fourteen  ships,  which  he  reduced  the 
same  year  to  four,  and  the  next  laid  them  up  also.  He  then 
abolished  the  danegelt,  which  had  continued  thirty-nine 
years  from  its  first  imposition  by  Ethelred  :  this  was  a  great 
relief  to  the  people,  for  it  was  always  exacted  before  any 
other  impost ;  and  they  were  vexed  with  many.* 

England  might  now  have  been  at  rest,  if  the  prospect  of 
an  uncertain  succession  to  the  crown  had  not  offered  tempting 
opportunities  for  ambition  and  intrigues.  The  king  vacil- 
lated between  his  habitual  fear  of  earl  Godwin's  formidable 
family,  and  his  inclination  for  the  Normans,  among  whom 
he  had  grown  up ;  when  the  latter  feeling  prevailed,  God- 
win and  his  sons  were  exiled  ;  they  found  an  asylum  with 
Baldwin  at  Bruges,  and  from  thence  returned,  "  after  the 
manner  of  rovers,"  to  infest  their  own  country.  Forces  were 
assembled  by  sea  and  land  to  oppose  them ;  the  wea-  .  „ci 
ther,  which  baffled  the  exiles  in  their  first  attempt, 
wrought  eventually  in  their  favour ;  for  the  men  on  board 
the  king's  fleet,  weary  of  waiting  for  the  invaders,  and  per- 
haps unwilling  to  act  against  a  family  who  had  a  .  ^,0 
strong  party  in  the  country,  and,  with  all  their  faults, 
were  popular,  forsook  their  ships,  and  went  each  his  way. 
Godwin  then  found  the  coast  at  his  mercy.  He  made  first 
for  the  Isle  of  Wight,  plundered  it,  proceeded  to  Portland, 
and  there,  in  the  brief  t)ut  expressive  language  of  the  Chro- 
nicle, he  and  his  people  did  harm  as  much  as  they  could  do. 
At  the  same  time  Harold,  the  most  illustrious  of  his  sons, 
entered  the  Bristol  channel  with  nine  ships  from  Ireland, 
landed  in  Porlock  bay,  so  often  the  beautiful  scene  of  pira- 
tical invasion,  and  there  routed  the  land  forces  which  from 
Devon  and  Somerset  were  mustered  against  him,  with  the 

*Sax.  Cbron.Sie— 335. 


104  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

slaughter  of  more  than  thirty  good  thanes.  Returning  then  to 
the  mouth  of  the  channel,  he  rounded  the  Land's  End.  He 
landed  there,  and  seized  cattle,  men,  money,  and  whatever  he 
could ;  joined  his  father  on  the  southern  coast,  and  proceed- 
ed to  the  Isle  of  Wight,  thence  to  glean  what  Godwin  had 
left  from  the  harvest  of  his  spoil.  Yet  these  exiles,  merci- 
lessly as  they  acted  towards  their  own  countrymen,  were  po- 
pular, so  little  do  the  people  judge  of  men  according  to  their 
deeds  !  They  were  joined  as  they  advanced  hy  all  the  ships 
at  Pevensey,  Romney,  Hithe,  and  Folkstone.  Godwin  had 
already  won  over  to  him  "  all  the  Kentish  men,  and  the  boat- 
men from  Hastings,  and  every  whereabout  by  the  sea  coast, 
and  all  the  men  of  Essex,  and  Sussex,  and  Surrey,  and  many 
others  who  declared  that  they  would  live  or  die  with  him." 
From  Dover  and  from  Sandwich  they  took  as  many  ships 
and  hostages  as  they  chose,  then  made  sail  for  London ;  but 
some  of  their  people  on  the  way  landed  on  the  Isle  of  She- 
pey,  and  ravaged  it,  and  burnt  Milton  to  the  ground. 

Edward  was  awaiting  them  at  London,  with  the  earls  of 
his  party,  fifty  ships,  and  a  great  land  force.  When  Godwin 
and  Harold  approached,  they  sent  to  the  king,  and  required 
the  restoration  of  their  estates  and  dignitaries ;  alleging,  that 
they  had  been  wrongfully  deprived  of  them.  On  which  side 
the  right  lay,  it  is  now  not  possible  to  determine ;  probably 
both  had  been  so  much  in  the  wrong,  that  a  strong  plea 
might  be  made  out  on  either  part — as  in  parties,  and  factions, 
and  civil  wars,  is  commonly  the  case.  Godwin  saw  that 
public  opinion  had  begun  to  declare  itself  in  his  favour;  and 
when  upon  the  king's  resisting  his  demands,  his  followers 
became  clamorous  for  immediate  action,  he  represt  their  ar- 
dour. Edward  summoned  more  forces  to  his  support  from 
the  interior.  Godwin,  on  his  part,  held  secret  communica- 
tion with  the  citizens,  and  succeeded  in  winning  them  over 
wholly  to  his  will,  while  he  lay  with  his  fleet  before  London, 
waiting  for  the  flood.  When  his  arrangements  were  com- 
plete, and  the  tide  served,  the  fleet  weighed  anchor  and  pass- 
ed the  bridge,  keeping  the  south  side  of  the  river ;  his  land 
forces  advanced  at  the  same  time,  and  drew  up  on  the  Strand, 
which  was  then,  as  its  name  implies,  an  open  shore — taking 
a  position  which  seemed  as  if  they  meant,  with  the  aid  of 
their  ships,  to  surround  the  king's  fleet.  Edward  would  have 
been  strong  enough  to  have  given  them  battle  both  by  land 
and  water,  if  there  had  been  the  same  temper  in  his  party,  as 
in  that  of  the  exiles  ;  but  there  were  few  foreigners  on  either 
side,  and  while  Godwin's  men  were  eager  to  right  (as  they  be- 
lieved) their  leader  by  force  of  arms,  there  was  a  great  unwil- 


RELIANCE  UPON  NAVAL  FORCES.         105 

lingness  in  the  king's  people  to  fight  with  their  own  country- 
men. They  had  not,  like  their  opponents,  any  thing  to  gain  by 
victory ;  and  woful  experience  had  taught  them  that  the  effect 
of  such  contests  was  to  render  their  land  an  easy  prey  for  fo- 
reign enemies.  "Wise  men,"  therefore,  as  they  are  called,  were 
appointed  on  both  sides  to  negotiate ;  hostages  were  exchang- 
ed, a  general  council  was  immediately  convened,  and  peace 
was  presently  concluded ;  the  king  believing,  or  of  necessity 
seeming  to  believe,  the  protestations  of  fidelity  made  by  God- 
win and  Harold,  and  submitting  to  have  his  Norman*  friends 
outlawed  by  the  now  ascendant  party. 

In  all  the  wars  with  which  this  unhappy  age  of  English 
history  abounds,  more  reliance  seems  to  have  been  placed 
upon  the  fleets  than  upon  the  land  forces ;  no  doubt  because 
great  part  of  the  country  was  covered  with  woods.  If  an 
army  did  not  find  its  means  of  subsistence  wherever  it 
moved,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  transport  them  otherwise 
than  by  water.  When  earl  Siward  defeated  and  slew  Mac- 
beth, and  brought  back  from  Scotland  "  such  spoil  as  ^n^A 
no  man  had  before  obtained,"  he  had  a  fleetf  to  co-  ' 

operate  with  him.  The  English  had  been  compelled  to  learn 
seamanship  by  their  long  struggle  with  the  Danes;  they 
had  not  yet  learnt  from  the  same  enemy  to  be  good  horse- 
soldiers  ;  and  in  opposing  an  army  of  Welsh  and  Irish  at 
Hereford,  they  suffered  a  shameful  defeat,  because  their 
leader  had  brought  them  into  the  field  contrary  to  their  cus- 
tom, on  horseback,  and  they  took  to  flight  before  a  spear  was 
thrown.  The  Welsh  king  Griffith  had  taken  ad  van-  .  „.g 
tage  of  the  feuds  by  which  England  was  disturbed, 
frequently  to  infest  the  English  borders;  he  was  an  enter- 

E rising  prince,  and  he  had  the  stronger  motive  of  revenging 
is  brother's  fate,  who,  because  of  his  celebrity  as  a  ma- 
rauder, had  been  put  to  death  by  Edward's  command ;  his 
head,  like  that  of  a  criminal,  being  brought  to  Gloucester. 
Sometimes  with  the  aid  of  the  exiled  earl  Algar,  sometimes 
with  Irish  adventurers,  and  once  with  an  auxiliary  fleet  from 
Normandy,  he  obtained  successes  enough  to  bring  at  last  a 
formidable  invasion  upon  his  country,  and  destruction  upon 
himself.  Harold  marched  against  him  in-  the  winter  from 
Gloucester  to  Rhuddlan,  where  he  had  a  palace  or  .Qg™ 
castle,  and  where  his  fleet  lay ;  he  burnt  the  strong- 

•  The  Saxon  Chronicle  callB  them  French,  and  the  other  Frenchmen  it  calls 
Franks.  Taking  part  with  the  triiirapliarit  party  here,  it  says  that  "the 
French  had  instituted  bad  laws,  and  judged  unrighteous  judgment,  and 
brought  bad  councils  into  the  land,"  p  ix>. 

t  Sax.Chron.242 


106  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

hold,  and  the  ships,  and  all  the  stores  belonging  to- theni/ 
Griffith  escaped ;  but  in  the  spring  Harold  sailed  with  a 
naval  force  from  Bristol  to  the  coast  of  North  Wales,  while 
his  brother  Tostig  led  an  army  into  that  country ;  the  in- 
habitants submitted,  and  Griffith  was  slain  by  one  of  his 
own  people ;  his  head  was  sent  to  the  king,  with  the  head 
and  rigging  of  his  ship  also  ;  trophies  which  would  not  have 
been  selected,  unless  this  brave  prince  had  made  himself 
conspicuous  as  a  maritime  foe.* 

It  is  related,  that  when  the  minds  of  the  English  were 
turned  with  fearful  hope,  during  the  Danish  dynasty,  to- 
wards Edward,  a  monk  of  Glastonbury  saw  in  a  dream  St. 
Peter  anoint  him  king.  The  monk  ventured  to  ask  who 
should  be  his  successor?  and  the  apostle  answered,  "  Have 
thou  no  care  for  that?  for  the  kingdom  of  England  is  God's 
kingdom." — "  Which,  surely,"  says  old  Ralph  Holinshed,j" 
"  in  good  earnest  may  appear  by  many  great  arguments  to 
be  full  true,  unto  such  as  shall  well  consider  the  state  of  this 
realm  from  time  to  time,  how  there  hath  been  ever  governors 
raised  up  to  maintain  the  majesty  of  the  kingdom,  and  to 
reduce  the  same  to  its  former  dignity,  when  by  any  unfortu- 
nate mishap  it  hath  been  brought  in  danger."  If  what  is 
called  the  philosophy  of  history  is  not  set  forth  by  writers 
of  his  stamp,  something  which  springs  from  a  deeper  root  is 
sometimes  found  in  its  stead.  "  It  would  make  a  diligent 
and  marking  reader,"  he  says,:}:  "  both  muse  and  mourn,  to 
see  how  variable  the  state  of  this  kingdom  hath  been ;  and 
thereby  to  fall  into  a  consideration  of  the  frailty  and  uncer- 
tainty of  this  mortal  life,  which  is  no  more  free  from  insecu- 
rity than  a  ship  on  the  sea  in  tempestuous  weather.  For  as 
the  casualties,  wherewith  our  life  is  inclosed  and  beset  with 
round  about,  are  manifold,  so  also  are  they  miserable,  so  also 
are  they  sudden,  so  also  are  they  unavoidable.  And  true  it 
is  that  the  life  of  man  is  in  the  hands  of  God,  and  the  state 
of  kingdoms  doth  also  belong  unto  him,  either  to  continue 
or  discontinue."  It  had  been  too  surely  foreseen  that  Ed- 
ward's death  would  draw  after  it  the  evils  of  a  disputed  suc- 
cession. Edward  himself  foresaw  this ;  but  the  right  of 
hereditary  descent  was  so  little  recognized,  when  it  was  not 
supported  by  personal  desert,  or  by  a  strong  part)'^,  that  he 
disregarded  what  otherwise  would  have  been  the  undoubted 
claim  of  Edgar  Atheling,  and  designated  his  friend  and  kins- 
man, William  of  Normandy,  to  succeed  him.  But  it  is  said, 
also,  that  the  general  corruption  of  manners  made  a  deep 

♦  Sax.  Chron.  240.  244. 251, 252.  t  Vol.  1. 738.  I  Vol.  L  TX. 


APPEARANCE  OF  A  COMET.  107 

impression  on  his  religious  mind,  and  that  because  of  the 
sins  of  the  nation  he  apprehended  some  national  visitation. 
Such  an  apprehension  was  general ;  and  the  appearance  of  a 
comet*  at  this  time  confirmed  it.  "  Thou  art  come,"  a  monk 
of  Malmesbury  is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  with  prophetic 
feeling,  on  beholding  the  blazing  star,  "  thou  art  come,  to 
be  Ijmiented  of  many  a  mother  !  Long  since  I  saw  thee  ;  but 
I  behold  thee  now  far  more  terrible,  threatening  destruction 
to  this  country  !"  That  the  comet  was  thus  regarded  is  cer- 
tain ;  and  that,  as  portending  change,  it  raised  the  hopes  of 
those  who  were  preparing  to  invade  England,  as  much  as  it 
alarmed  the  English.  But  when  legendary  writers  relate 
how  the  soul  of  a  beatified  monk  appeared  to  Edward  in  his 
last  sickness,  while  he  lay  in  a  trance,  and  told  him,  that  the 
chiefs  of  England,  as  well  the  clergy  as  the  laity,  were  not 
the  ministers  of  God  but  of  the  devil,  and  that  therefore, 
after  his  death,  God  would  deliver  over  the  kingdom  to  the 
Enemy ; — and  when  thay  say  that,  in  another  dream,  the 
king  beheld  the  Seven  Sleepers  turn  in  their  sleep,  as  if  dis- 
turbed, and  knew  thereby  that  dreadful  calamities  were  at 
hand ; — the  one  tale  is  an  example  of  monkish  invention, 
the  other  a  proof  of  the  general  corruption  which  rendered 
the  nation  ripe  for  vengeance.  The  justice  of  the  visitation 
which  ensued  was  acknowledged  by  the  sufferers  themselves ; 
and  the  merciful  purpose  with  which  it  was  dispensed  is 
now  not  less  apparent  to  those  who  contemplate  the  provi- 
dential course  of  history.  Such  miseries  as  the  Jutes,  Sax- 
ons, and  Angles  had  brought  upon  the  Romanized  Britons, 
such  miseries  were,  in  their  turn,  inflicted  upon  them  by  the 
Danes ;  and  now  when  the  kindred  though  hostile  tribes  had 
been,  as  it  were,  welded  into  one  people,  the  recent  con- 
querors were  to  feel  the  misery  of  being  conquered. 

The  Saxon  line,  which  had  continued  five  centuries  and  a 
half,  from  the  time  of  Cerdic  the  first  king  of  Wessex,  ended 
in  Edward  the  Confessor;  Harold,  who  succeeded  i/^^-/? 
him,  having  no  pretension  by  his  blood,  but  taking 
the  crown  either  by  election,  or  by  his  own  act  and  deed,  as 
one  who  thought  himself  able  to  maintain  it.  He  knew  that 
he  must  contend  for  it  against  the  duke  of  Normandy,  who 
had  great  power  and  great  personal  ability  wherewith  to 
enforce  a  claim,  more  plausible  though  less  popular  than  his 
own.  But  his  first  danger  was  from  his  brother  Tostig,  one 
of  the  most  atrocious  barbarians  in  that  barbarous  age,  yet 
who  was  not  without  that  magnanimity  which  is  compatible 

*  Sax.  Cbron.  3S7.    William  of  Malmesbury,  S68. 


108  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

with  the  fiercer  vices,  and  who  possessed,  in  an  eminent  de- 
gree, the  good  as  well  as  the  evil  qualities  whereby  his  family 
were  distinguished.  After  an  act  of  monstrous  wickedness, 
which  might  be  deemed  incredible,  if  parallels  to  it  were 
not  found  in  the  early  history  of  other  nations,  he  had  taken 
refuge  in  count  Baldwin's  territories,  then  the  common  asy- 
lum of  all  outlaws  and  freebooters.  From  thence  he  repaired 
to  Denmark,  and  solicited  his  kinsman,  king  Svend  Estrid- 
sen,  to  undertake  the  conquest  of  England,  encouraging  him 
by  the  example  of  Canute  his  uncle.  But  Svend  replied, 
that  it  had  been  an  enterprise  of  great  hazard  and  uncertainty 
for  Canute,  though  he  had  undisputed  possession  both  of 
Denmark  and  Norway  at  that  time ;  whereas  he  himself 
could  with  difficulty  maintain  himself  in  Denmark  against 
the  Norwegians.  It  behoved  him,  therefore,  to  limit  his 
ambition  by  his  means,  and  not  attempt  what  he  could  not 
reasonably  hope  to  accomplish.  Tostig  upon  this  left  him 
angrily,  saying,  he  should  perhaps  find  a  king  who  would 
not  be  deterred  by  the  apprehension  of  danger  from  under- 
taking great  things.  Accordingly  he  went  to  Norway,  and 
succeeded  in  persuading  king  Harold  Hardrada  to  the  ad- 
venture— an  unhappy  hour  for  both.  Returning  forthwith 
to  Flanders,  he  collected  there  as  large  a  fleet  as  he  was 
able  to  equip ;  and  finding  followers  among  those  adventurers 
who  were  the  pests  of  Europe,  he  sailed  for  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  where  he  obtained  money  and  provisions,  and  then 
ravaged  the  coast  till  he  came  to  Sandwich.  Harold 
gathered,  meantime,  in  preparation  both  against  him  and 
William,  a  larger  force,  both  by  sea  and  land,  than  any 
king  before  him  had  collected  in  this  island.  Tostig  did 
not  venture  to  encounter  him :  but  pressing  seamen  from 
Sandwich  into  his  service,  seiiled  with  threescore  ships  for 
the  Humber,  landed  in  Lindsey,  and  "  there  slew  many  good 
men."  This  brought  upon  him  the  earls  Edwin  and  Morcar, 
great  but  unfortunate  names  in  the  history  of  their  times. 
They  drove  him  from  the  land,  the  seamen  took  advantage  of 
this  reverse  to  make  their  escape,  and  he  fled  to  Scotland, 
with  only  twelve  small  vessels  in  his  company,  there  to 
expect  the  coming  of  his  Norwegian  allies. 

Harold  Hardradei,  confident  in  his  own  fortunes  not  less 
than  in  his  personal  prowess  and  military  talents,  on  both 
which  he  might  well  rely,  had  summoned  half  the  military 
and  naval  force  of  Norway  for  the  expedition.  The  Nor- 
wegians had  great  confidence  in  their  lung ;  but  there  were 
many  who  thought  he  was  engaging  in  a  most  arduous 
enterprise,  where  he  would  have  to  contend  with  a  warlike 


HAROLD  HARDRADa's  INVASION.  109 

people,  and  with  a  force  of  well-trained  soldiers,*  selected 
for  their  strenorth.  A  great  fleet  was  equipped,  consisting 
of  about  200  sail,  besides  store-ships,  and  vessels  of  smaller 
size,  to  the  number  of  500  in  all, — the  most  powerful  arma- 
ment that  had  ever  sailed  from  Norway.  Before  he  departed, 
he  caused  the  shrine  wherein  the  body  of  his  half-brother, 
king  St.  Olaf,  was  deposited  to  be  opened,  and  cut  the  nails 
and  the  hair  of  his  holy  corpse  to  take  with  him  as  relics, 
after  which  he  is  said  to  have  relocked  the  shrine,  and 
thrown  the  keys  into  the  river  Nid,  in  order  that  it  might 
never  again  be  violated  even  with  so  pious  an  intent.  But 
an  ominous  dream  disturbed  the  confidence  which  he  might 
have  placed  in  these  supposed  amulets  :  he  himself,  it  was 
reported,  saw  St.  Olaf  in  a  vision,  and  heard  from  him 
moumfiil  anticipations  of  his  defeat  and  death.  One  of  his 
chiefs  dreamt  that  eagles  and  carrion  crows  alighted  upon 
every  ship,  and  that  a  woman  of  dreadful  countenance  and 
gigantic  form,  who  stood  upon  an  island,  holding  a  crooked 
sword  in  one  hand,  and  in  the  other  a  huge  vessel,  called 
upon  these  birds  of  the  battle-field,  and  bade  them  rejoice  in 
expectation  of  the  banquet  which  was  prepared  for  them. 
Another  chief  beheld,  in  a  vision,  the  Norwegian  army 
drawn  up  in  battle  array,  and  the  English  in  array  against 
them ;  but  before  the  English  host  there  went  forth  a  giantess 
as  if  leading  them  to  victory.  She  rode  a  wolf  of  size  pro- 
portionate to  her  own  stature,  and  fed  him  with  human 
bodies  as  fast  as  he  could  devour  them.  These  popular 
fables  show  how  deep  an  impression  was  made  in  the  North 
by  the  issue  of  this  great  expedition,  the  last  hostile  one 
from  Scandinavia  that  ever  reached  the  English  shores  in 
any  formidable  strength.f 

The  fleet  touched  at  the  Orkneys,  where  Harold  left  his 
queen  Ellisif,  with  his  daughters  Maria  and  Ingegerdi,  and 
from  whence  he  brought  away  a  large  reinforcement  of 
adventurers.  Making  then  for  England,  and  entering  the 
mouth  of  the  Tees,  he  landed  in  the  district  then  called  Klif- 

•  Snorre  rAotiq.  Celto-Scand.  197.)repfesents  the  Norwegians  as  saying, 
that  the  soldierH  called  Thiiigainanna  consisted  nf  such  men,  that  one  of 
them  was  worth  more  than  two  of  the  b<;st  of  Harold  Hardrada's  army. 
Tliis  may  have  been  said  after  the  event,  to  lessen  the  mortification  of  their 
overthrow.  The  Thingamanna  were  mercenaries,  and  this  ilie  name  (if 
I  am  not  mistaken  in  its  derivation)  implies  :  they  were  in  that  age  what 
the  Brabanzons  were  in  Coeur-de-Lion's,  and  the  Swiss  in  that  of  Francis  I., 
except  that  they  were  notof  any  one  nation,  but  adventurers,  outlaws,  and 
ruffians  from  all.  Their  power  seems  to  liave  been  greatest  in  Sweync's 
time ;  shortly  after  bis  death,  a  irreal  body  of  them  were  massacred  in 
Sleswic.    (Ibid.  101—103.) 

t  Antiq.  Celto-Scand.  193—300. 

Vol.  I.  K 


110  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

land,*  where  the  inhabitants  submitted  without  resistance. 
The  first  opposition  which  he  found  was  at  Scarborough ; 
and  here  he  had  recourse  to  a  mode  of  attack  which  had  long- 
before  been  practised  upon  that  coast,|  and  is  characteris- 
tic of  warfare  in  its  rudest  state :  a  huge  pile'  of  wood  was 
erected  close  to  the  walls  or  ramparts,  and  over-topping  them, 
and  when  the  flames  were  at  their  height,  the  burning  mate- 
rials were,  by  means  of  long  poles,  thrust  down  into  the 
town  till  some  of  the  houses  were  set  on  fire ;  the  place  was 
then  taken,  and  plundered.  The  inhabitants  of  the  surround- 
ing country  then  submitted  to  his  mercy,  and  he  advanced 
with  his  fleet  to  the  Humber.  Thus  far  all  had  proceeded 
prosperously  with  Tostig  and  his  ally.  The  Anglo-Saxon 
king,  more  apprehensive  of  a  descent  from  Normandy  than 
from  Norwa)',  had  assembled  both  his  sea  and  land  forces 
upon  the  southern  coast,  taking  his  own  station  in  the  Isle 
of  Wight.  There  he  had  remained  all  the  summer,  and  till 
the  nativity  of  the  Virgin  Mary  (September  8th),  at  which 
time  it  was  then  usual  for  the  people  to  lay  in  their  provision 
for  the  winter ;  and  then,  says  the  Saxon  Chronicle, "  no  man 
could  keep  them  there  any  longer."  They  were,  therefore, 
necessarily  disbanded,  and  many  of  their  ships  were  wrecked 
on  their  way  to  London.  Harold  had  hastened  thither  by 
land  in  consequence  of  tidings  that  the  Norwegian  fleet  had 
entered  the  Humber,  and  were  ascending  the  Ouse  towards 
York.  Upon  this  hastily  collecting  an  army,  he  marched 
northward  with  all  the  speed  that  the  exigency  required. 

Meantime  earls  Edwin  and  Morcar,  who  had  baffled  Tostig 
in  his  first  adventure,  brought  together  all  the  force  of  the 
adjacent  country,  and  prepared  to  attack  the  invaders.  Ha- 
rold Hardrada  drew  up  his  army  to  give  them  battle,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Ouse,  not  far  from  York,  and  to  the  south 
of  that  city.  One  wing  rested  upon  the  river,  the  other 
upon  a  ditch,  and  a  wide  marsh  which  was  at  that  time 
covered  with  water ;  the  line  on  that  side  was  designedly, 
as  it  appears,  left  weak,  the  strength  of  his  host  being  in  the 
right  wing,  where  he  had  planted  his  banner,  known  by  the 
barbarous  name  of  Landeyda,  the  waster  of  land.    As  he 

*  "  Upon  this  part  of  the  coast,"  says  Camden (752),  "when  the  winds 
are  laid,  and  the  sea  in  a  still  calm,  the  waters  thereof  being  spread  into  a 
flat  plain,  very  often  a  hideous  groaning  is  suddenly  heard  here,  and  then  the 
fishermen  are  afraid  to  go  to  sea;  who,  accordingto  their  poor  sense  of  things, 
believe  the  ocean  to  be  a  huge  monster,  which  is  then  hungry,  and  eager  to 
glut  itself  with  men's  bodies." 

t  An  instance  of  it,  upon  which  one  of  St.  Aidan's  miracles  was  grafted, 
is  related  by  Bede,  lib.  iii.  c.  zvi.  It  is  noticed  in  my  Letters  to  Mr.  Butler, 
vindicating  the  Book  of  the  Church,  p.  197. 


HAROLD  ARRIVES  AT  YORK.  Ill 

had  expected,  the  earls  attacked  and  forced  the  weaker 
ilank :  so  doing,  they  exposed  themselves  to  a  decisive 
charge  from  his  main  force,  and  were  overthrown  with  great 
slaughter.  Many  were  drowned  in  the  ditch,  and  so  many 
perished  in  the  marsh,  that  the  Norwegians  are  said  to  have 
traversed  it  upon  the  bodies  of  their  enemies.*  The  earls, 
and  as  many  as  escaped,  took  shelter  in  York ;  but  when 
Harold  Hardrada  approached  the  city,  and  encamped  near 
Stamford  Bridge  to  besiege  it,  the  inhabitants  for  Tostig 
had  partisans  among  them,  opened  their  gates,  and  submitted 
to  his  mercy.  An  assembly  was  convened  without  the  city, 
in  which  they  performed  homage  to  him,  as  their  king  by 
riglit  of  conquest;  and  after  the  assembly  he  returned  to 
his  ships  in  the  joy  of  victory.  This  was  on  Sunday,  the 
24th  or  September ;  the  battle  had  been  fought  on  the  pre- 
ceding Wednesday,  being  the  eve  of  St.  Matthias;  and  a 
meeting  had  been  appointed  for  the  Monday  within  the  city, 
at  which  the  Norwegian  conqueror  was  to  appoint  officers, 
give  laws,  and  distribute  lands.  The  citizens  gave  hostages 
and  supplied  provisions,  and  peace  had  been  proclaimed  to 
all  who  would  go  southward  with  Testis  and  the  king,  and 
serve  them  in  completing  the  conquest  of  the  realm.f 

While  they  were  rejoicing  at  their  ships,  Harold,  who 
bad  hastened  day  and  night,  reached  Yorit,  with  the  van- 
guard of  his  army,  on  the  Sunday  evening.  The  great  body 
of  the  inhabitants  hated  Tostig  because  of  his  cruelties :  he 
was  therefore  joyfully  received,  and  the  gates  were  shut  and 
the  walls  guarded,  that  no  information  might  be  carried  to 
the  invaders.  On  the  morrow,  Hardrada,  little  deeming  that 
such  an  enemy  was  at  hand,  prepared  for  his  advance,  ap- 
pointing one  third  of  his  people  to  remain  with  the  fleet 
under  Olaf,  his  son,  two  earls  of  the  Orkrveys,  Paul  and 
Erlendr  by  name,  and  his  especial  favourite  Eysteinn  Orri, 
the  most  distinguished  of  the  Norwegian  chiefs,  to  whom 
his  daughter  Maria  had  been  promised  in  marriage.  The 
morning  was  unusually  bright  and  hot;  and  the  Norwegians 
expecting  to  be  engaged  that  day  in  nothing  but  civil  occu- 
pations and  ceremonies,  left  their  hauberks  on  board,  wear- 
ing no  other  defensive  armour  than  the  shield  and  helmet ; 
they  had  their  usual  weapons,  for  these  were  never  laid 
aside,  and  some  were  armed  as  archers,  but  all  were  high  in 
spirits,  and  in  the  hope  of  speedily  effecting  the  easy  con- 

•  Antiq.  Celto-Scand.  '201 — 203.  The  Icelandic  author  erroneously  sup- 
IMses  Morcar  to  havb  fallen  in  this  action;  in  other  points,  bis  account  is 
confirmed  by  the  Saxon  Chronicle. 

t  Astiq.  Celto-Seand.  304,  305.    Sax.  Chron.  359—361. 


112  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

quest  of  a  great  and  rich  kingdom.  As  they  approached 
they  discovered  a  great  body  of  men  advancing  to  meet 
them,  and  through  the  dust  which  arose  from  the  trampling 
of  their  horses,  the  glittering  of  shields  and  breastplates 
was  perceived.  Hardrada  halted  his  men,  and  sent  for 
Tostig  to  inquire  of  him  who  these  might  be.  Tostig  re- 
plied, that  verily  it  looked  like  a  hostile  army ;  yet,  possibly, 
It  might  prove  to  be  his  own  friends  and  kinsmen  coming  to 
solicit  pardon,  and  offer  their  services,  and  plight  their  faith. 
A  few  minutes'  delay  made  it  evident  that  the  host  which 
advanced  came  prepared  for  battle ;  and  Tostig  then  advised 
that  they  should  return  with  all  speed  to  the  ships,  there  to 
arm  themselves,  and  bring  their  whole  force  into  the  field, 
or  to  have  the  protection  of  the  ships  if  it  should  be  thought 
best  not  to  encounter  the  enemy's  cavalry.  This  advice  was 
rejected  by  Hardrada,  either  from  a  high  sense  of  honour, 
unseasonably  indulged  ;  or  because  he  thought  that  a  preci- 
pitate retreat  might  dishearten  his  own  people,  and  afford 
opportunity  of  advantage  to  the  enemy.  He  ordered  Frirekr, 
his  standard-bearer,  to  set  up  his  standard — the  Waster  ojf 
Lands ;  sent  three  messengers  at  full  speed  to  summon  the 
remainder  of  his  army  from  the  ships ;  and  determined  up- 
on giving  the  English  battle,  in  a  brave  confidence  that 
he  could  keep  his  ground  till  the  reinforcement  should  be 
brought  up. 

Having  so  resolved,  he  drew  up  his  men  in  a  long  but  not 
a  dense  line,  and  bending  both  wings  back  till  they  met, 
formed  them  into  a  close  circle,  every  where  of  equal  depth, 
shield  touching  shield,  presenting  thus  a  rampart  of  bucklers. 
The  Landeyda  was  planted  in  the  centre,  and  by  it  the  king 
and  his  chosen  companions  were  to  have  their  station,  in 
readiness  to  face  the  danger  on  any  side.  This  array  was 
chosen  as  the  best  means  of  defence  against  a  far  superior 
cavalry,  accustomed  to  charge  in  a  great  body,  and  if  it  were 
repulsed,  to  wheel  round,  and  repeat  its  attack  upon  any 
point  that  appeared  least  guarded.  The  first  line  was  in- 
structed to  present  a  circle  of  spears  to  the  enemy,  holding 
them  obliquely  at  a  great  elevation,  and  resting  their  ends 
upon  the  earth ;  tliis  required  that  they  should  place  one 
knee  to  the  ground.  The  second  line  stood  erect,  holding 
their  spears  in  readiness  to  pierce  the  breasts  of  the  horses 
who  should  break  through  the  first  row.  The  archers  also 
were  stationed  to  assist  them.  If  Hardrada  acted  imprudent- 
ly in  waiting  for  the  enemy,  his  dispositions  were  made  with 
equal  promptitude  and  skill.  Having  thus  arranged  his  men, 
be  rode  round  the  circle,  inspecting  it,  and  was  thus  engaged 


INtERVTEW  WITH  TOSTIO.  113 

when  the  English  array  drew  near  enough  for  Harold  to 
distinguish  hiin>  and  inquire  who  he  was ;  for  he  was  ren- 
dered conspicuous  by  his  splendid  helmet,  his  sky-blue 
mantle,  and  the  black  horse,  with  a  white  star  on  the  fore- 
head, which  he  rode.  The  horse  stumbled  and  threw  him, 
but  without  hurt :  he  sprung  lightly  upon  his  feet,  and  said 
that  such  a  fall  omened  good  success  in  his  expedition ;  but 
Harold  gave  a  different  interpretation  to  the  accident,  and 
said,  the  king  of  Norway  is  a  strong  and  comely  person,  but 
I  augur  that  fortune  has  forsaken  him.* 

Presently  twenty  horsemen,  men  and  horse  in  complete 
mail,  approached  from  the  English  army,  as  if  to  parley,  and 
one  of  them  asked  if  earl  Tostig  were  in  the  field.  Tostig 
answered  for  himself,  saying,  "You  know  he  is  to  be  found 
here !"  The  horseman  then,  in  the  name  of  his  brother,  king 
Harold,  offered  him  peace  and  the  whole  of  Northumbria ; 
or,  if  that  were  too  little,  the  third  part  of  the  kingdom. 
*'  This  is  different  indeed,"  replied  the  earl, "  from  the  enmity, 
the  war,  and  the  contumely  with  which  no  longer  ago  than 
in  the  winter  I  was  treated :  had  this  offer  been  made  then, 
many  who  have  perished  might  have  been  now  among  the 
livinof,  and  far  happier  had  been  the  condition  of  England! 
But  if  I  should  accept  these  conditions,  what  compensation 
for  his  expedition  shall  I  offer  to  king  Harold  Hardrada,  the 
son  of  Sigurd  1"  The  horseman  replied,  "  Seven  feet  of  Eng- 
lish ground, — or  a  little  more,  seeing  that  he  exceeds  other 
men  in  stature !"  Tostig  made  answer  to  that  stem  reply, 
"  Go,  bid  king  Harold  make  ready  for  battle !  When  the 
Northmen  relate  the  history  of  this  day,  they  shall  never  say 
that  earl  Tostig,  when  the  fight  was  about  to  begin,  forsook 
king  Harold  Hardrada,  the  son  of  Sigurd,  and  joined  his  ene- 
mies. We  have  one  mind  and  one  determination,  either  to  die 
an  honourable  death,  or  to  possess  England  by  the  right  of  con- 
quest." Here  the  conference  ended,  the  horsemen  returned  to 
their  own  army ;  and  Hardrada  then  inquired  of  Tostig  if  he 
knew  who  the  man  was  who  had  spoken  so  proudly.  Tostig, 
replied,  it  was  Harold  himself,  the  king,  earl  Godwin's  son. 
Upon  this,  Hardrada  observed  this  had  been  concealed  too 
long,  for  they  had  approached  so  near  that  Harold  might  ne- 
ver have  returned  to  relate  of  their  slaughter.  "  Right,"  re- 
plied Tostig ;  "  he  acted  with  an  incautiousness  unworthy 
of  so  great  a  prince,  for  what  thou  sayest  might  easily  have 
happenned.  But  when  I  saw  that  he  offered  me  peace  and 
an  ample  kingdom,  and  that  if  I  betrayed  him  I  should  be 

•  Antiq.  Celto-9can<1.207— 209. 
k2 


114  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

guilty  of  his  death,  I  chose  rather,  if  such  must  be  the  alter- 
native, that  he  should  slay  me,  than  that  I  should,  in  such  a 
manner,  slay  him."*  Whether  this  be  historically  true,  or 
whether  the  northern  historian  thought  it  allowable  to  em- 
bellish his  narrative  with  fiction  as  well  as  with  verse,  the 
circumstance  is  equally  in  the  spirit  of  the  times ;  and  such 
circumstances  are  of  the  highest  value.  They  are  as  conso- 
latory to  a  thoughtful  and  religious  mind,  as  they  are  de- 
lightful to  a  poetical  imagination,  for  they  exhibit  that  heroic 
dignity  and  sense  of  honour  which  were  the  redeeming  vir- 
tues of  those  ages ;  when  their  place  is  not  supplied  by  Chris- 
tian principle,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  modem  civi- 
lization has  either  left  or  substituted  any  thing  so  good. 

When  the  battle  began,  the  English  horsemen  could  make 
no  impression  upon  the  close  circle  of  their  enemies,  till  they 
feigned  to  be  disheartened  and  to  fly,  and  then  turned  success- 
fully upon  the  incautious  Norwegians,  who  had  been  tempted 
to  break  their  order.  Hardrada  exerted  himself  to  encourage 
his  people  :  he  was  armed  in  a  coat  of  mail,  called  after  the 
name  of  some  favourite  lady,  Emma.  It  reached  half  way 
down  the  leg,  but  it  seems  to  have  left  the  neck  unprotected, 
and  there  he  was  pierced  by  an  arrow,  which  instantly  killed 
him.  Most  of  those  who  fought  beside  him  fell :  his  banner, 
however,  weis  bom  back  to  its  station ;  and  Tostig  succeed- 
ed to  the  command.  Harold  then  sent  to  offer  peace  and  se- 
curity both  to  his  brother  and  to  all  the  Norwegians  who 
were  left ;  but,  indignant  at  the  loss  of  their  king,  and  burn- 
ing for  vengeance,  they  replied  that  they  would  perish  to  the 
last  man  rather  than  accept  of  terms  from  the  English.  It 
was,  indeed,  on  their  part,  a  fight  of  madness  and  despair. 
Eysteinn  Orri  came  up  at  this  time  from  their  ships,  leading 
the  reinforcement ;  they  had  hastened  so  that  they  surrived 
breathless,  and  almost  spent  with  heat  and  exertion.  But 
upon  hearing  of  Hardrada's  death,  as  if  devoting  themselves 
to  revenge  and  follow  him,  they  made  such  aji  atteick  upon 
the  victorious  army,  that  it  was  spoken  of  in  after  times  by 
the  appellation  of  Orrahrid,  Orri's  tempest.  Fatigue,  and 
heat,  and  madness,  made  many  of  them  drop  their  shields, 
and  throw  off  their  breastplates ;  and  some  of  those  who  did 
not  thus  expose  themselves  to  the  well-armed  enemy,  fell 
and  died  of  exhaustion  without  a  wound.  The  greater  part 
of  the  Norwegians  perished,  and  all  their  chiefs.  Tostig 
wjis  among  the  slain.  Hardrada's  son  Olaf  had  been  left  at 
the  ships,  and  thither  they  who  left  the  field  endeavoured  to 

♦  Antlq.  Celto-Scand.  209,  210. 


HARDRADA  AND  TOSTIG  SLAIN.  115 

seek  shelter.  The  conquerors  pursued  to  complete  their  victo- 
ry ;  but  one  brave  Norwegian,  like  Horatius  Codes  in  the 
romantic  history  of  Rome,  took  his  post  upon  a  bridge,  and 
singly,  by  his  great  strength  and  prodigious  exertions,  im- 
peded the  pursuit,  till  one  who  was  more  astute  than  gene- 
rous, and  perhaps  than  brave,  got  under  the  bridge,  and 
thrust  a  spear  into  him  under  his  coat  of  mail.  The  passage 
being  then  no  longer  defended,  the  fugitives  and  the  fleet 
were  at  Harold's  mercy,  but  he  spared  them  ;  and  Olaf  and 
the  bishop,  who  was  in  the  expedition,  and  one  of  the  Ork- 
ney earls,  upon  swearing  that  they  would  for  ever  maintain 
faith  and  friendship  to  this  land,  were  allowed  to  depart  with 
all  the  survivors  in  twenty-four  ships.*  That  day's  tragedy 
produced  a  salutary  effect  upon  the  heart  of  Olai  ;|  and  the 
Norwegians  enjoyed  five-and-twenty  years  of  tranquil  pros- 
perity under  his  peaceful  and  beneficent  reign. 

It  is  said  that  no  bloodier  battle  had  ever  before  been 
fought  on  English  ground ;  certainly  never  was  one  more 
bravely  contested,  cut,  decisive  as  the  victory  was,  Harold 
obtained  by  it  only  a  short  respite  from  his  fate :  for  only 
three  days  after  the  defeat  and  death  of  Hardrada  and  Tos- 
tig,  William  of  Normandy  landed  on  the  coast  of  Sussex  to 
claim  the  crown,  with  the  pretext  of  a  lawful  title,  and,  to 
enforce  that  title,  at  the  head  of  a  formidable  army. 

Of  all  the  northern  hosts  who  established  themselves  in 
other  countries  by  conquest,  those  who  gave  their  name  to 
Normandy  are  they  who  most  rapidly  advanced  in  civili- 
zation. They  seem  immediately  to  have  grafted  them- 
selves upon  the  old  Romano-Gallic  stock,  and  adopting  the 
language  of  the  people  whom  they  subdued,  thus  to  have 
qualified  their  children,  in  the  first  generation,  for  receiving 
the  religion,  manners,  and  arts  of  Christendom.  They  seem 
also,  like  the  Jutes,  Saxons,  and  Angles,  who  fixed  them- 
selves in  Britain,  to  have  disregarded  maritime  concerns 
when  they  had  won  a  country  for  themselves.  When  Wil- 
liam resolved  upon  claiming  the  English  crown,  by  virtue 
of  Edward  the  Confessor's  testament,  the  ships  for  trans- 
porting his  army  were  to  be  built.  His  chiefs  were  far  from 
unanimous  in  advising  him  to  the  adventure ;  but  when  his 
resolution  had  been  taken,  both  they  and  the  clergy  contri- 

*  Antiq.  CeltoScand.  212—216.    Sax.  Chron.  261,  262. 

t  Hardrada's  daughter  died  in  the  Orkneys,  on  the  day  of  the  battle  in 
which  her  betrothed  husband  fell.  Two  sons  of  Tostig  were  taken  to  Nor- 
way by  Olaf,  where  they  were  honourably  educated,  and  lived  in  strict 
firiendship  with  the  king.  They  became  eminent  and  excellent  men,  and 
both  left  a  flourishing  posterity 


116  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

buted  largely  to  the  outfit,  supplying  money  toward  the  cost 
and  liquor  for  the  workmen.  The  number  of  ships  has  been 
variously  slated,  from  696  to  3000 ;  the  latter  number,  as  in- 
cluding the  smaller  barks,  would  not  be  too  great  for  the 
largest  fleet  of  which  any  memory  in  those  times  was  pre- 
served ,  and  that  the  ships  were  generally  of  no  considerable 
burthen  may  be  inferred  from  the  unquestionable  authority 
of  the  Bayeux  tapestry,  where  the  process  of  ship-building 
is  represented,  and  men  are  seen  drawing  them  to  the  sea  by 
ropes.  This  most  curious  relic  of  antiquity,  which  is  still 
preserved,  is  believed  to  have  been  the  work  of  William's 
queen,  Mathilda,  and  her  women.  That  queen  presented  her 
husband  with  the  ship  in  which  he  was  to  lead  the  van, 
and  which  was  distinguished  by  its  splendid  decorations  in 
the  day,  and  in  the  darkness  by  the  light  at  its  topmast.  Its 
vanes  were  gilded ;  its  sails  were  crimson  ;  and  at  its  head 
was  the  figure  of  a  child,  armed  with  a  bow  and  arrow,  and 
ready  to  let  fly.  In  the  same  ship  the  white  banner  was 
hoisted  which  pope  Alexander  II.  had  consecrated  and  bless- 
ed for  the  expedition.  By  engaging  to  make  the  English 
once  more  acknowledge  that  authority  in  the  church  of 
Rome  which  Harold,  like  all  the  more  vigorous  of  his  pre- 
decessors, was  little  disposed  to  regard ;  and  by  promising 
that  the  annual  tribute  of  St.  Peter  s  pence  should  duly  be 
collected  and  paid,  William's  able  agents  had  induced  the 
pope  to  pronounce  a  sentence  in  favour  of  William's  title,— 
acting  thus  as  supreme  judge,  though  Harold  neither  re- 
cognised in  him  any  right  to  decide,  nor  conferred  it  by  re- 
ferring the  matter  to  his  decision.  With  the  banner  the  pope 
sent  him  a  bull,  not  more  in  furtherance  of  William's  views, 
than  of  the  papal  policy ;  and  one  of  St.  Peter's  hairs,  set  in 
a  precious  ring.  The  confirmation  of  his  title,  which  Wil- 
liam thought  It  expedient  to  obtain,  would  be  of  no  little 
weight  in  disposing  the  English  clergy  to  acknowledge  it ; 
and  the  nation,  in  consequence,  to  submit  to  him  as  their 
lawful  king.  But  he  knew  the  temper  and  the  ability  of 
his  opponent,  and,  therefore,  omitted  no  exertions  for  drawing 
succours  from  far  and  near.  Adventurers  came  at  his  invi- 
tation from  Britany  and  from  Poitou,  from  Maine  and  Anjou, 
from  Aquitaine,  from  Piedmont,  from  Burgundy,  and  from 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  His  father-in-law,  Baldwin,  earl  of 
Flanders,  aided  him  largely  with  men,  ships,  and  stores ; 
and  though  the  French  king,  Philip  I.,  refused  him  any  as- 
sistance, he  made  no  attempt  to  impede  the  expedition,  and 
allowed  as  many  of  his  subjects  as  were  disposed  to  join  it ; 
probably  he  expected   that  a  formidable   neighbour  might 


ST.  VALERY  BORNE  IN  PROCESSION.        117 

either  be  engaged  at  a  distance  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life  by  the  success  of  the  expedition,  or  wealiened  by 
its  failure.*  Another  motive,  undoubtedly,  for  which  the 
neighbouring  princes  encouraged  William  in  his  attempt, 
was,  that  their  own  states  might  be  relieved  by  it  from  the 
growth  of  that  restless  and  turbulent  class  whose  only  oc- 
cupation W81S  war,  and  who  had  to  make  their  fortunes  by 
the  sword.f 

The  fleet  assembled  in  the  month  of  August,  at  the  month 
of  the  river  Dive,  v/hich  enters  the  sea  between  the  Seine 
and  the  Orne.  The  wind  was  adverse,  and  continued  so  for 
a  whole  month ;  but  by  this  delay,  unfavourable  as  it  seem- 
ed, the  success  of  the  enterprise  was  materially  promoted. 
For  Harold  had  stationed  his  fleet  off  the  Isle  of  Wight,  to 
watch  the  southern  shores,  and  had  encamped  an  army  near. 
This  guard  was  vigilantly  kept  during  the  whole  summer ; 
but,  in  September,  their  provisions  were  exhausted,  and  the 
ships  dispersed  in  consequence.  The  cozist  was  thus  left 
unguarded,  and  at  the  same  time  the  land  force  was  called  oflF 
to  oppose  the  Norwegian  invasion.  At  this  favourable  junc- 
ture the  wind  came  round  to  the  southward,  and  carried  the 
fleet  to  St.  Valery,  near  Dieppe,  the  nearest  port  between 
Normandy  and  England  ;  but  then  the  weather  changed.  It 
became  necessary  to  cast  anchor  and  wait  there  for  several 
days,  and  during  that  time  a  gale  came  on,  and  several  ships 
were  lost  with  all  their  crews.  The  hope  with  which  men 
engage  in  such  expeditions  sickens  when  it  is  long  deferred ; 
and  though  William  sought  to  conceal  the  extent  of  the  dis- 
aster from  his  men,  or  at  least  to  remove  all  vestiges  of  it, 
by  causing  the  bodies  of  the  shipwrecked  to  be  privately 
buried  as  soon  as  they  were  found;  and  though  he  en- 
deavoured to  keep  his  people  in  heart  by  increasing  their 
rations  both  of  food  and  of  cheering  liquor  ;  there  were 
many  who  abandoned  the  enterprise,  and  more  who  began  to 
think  that  Providence  had  declared  against  it.  That  man 
was  mad,  they  said,  who  sought  to  take  possession  of  an- 
other's country.  God  was  displeased  at  such  designs,  and 
manifested   his  displeasure  now  by  withholding  the  wind 

*  "  Although  in  these  advancements  and  turns  of  princes,"  says  Daniel, 
"  there  is  a  concurrency  of  dispositions,  and  a  state  of  times  prepared  for  it, 
yet  is  it  strange,  that  so  many  mighty  men  of  the  French  nation  would  ad- 
venture their  lives  and  fortunes  to  add  England  to  Normandy  to  malte  it 
more  than  France,  and  so  great  a  crown  to  a  duke,  who  was  too  great  for 
them  already.  But  where  mutations  are  destined,  the  counsels  of  men 
must  be  corrupted,  and  there  will  fall  out  all  advantages  to  serve  thatbiui- 
ness."  p.  35. 

t  Turner,  il.  55.1—565.  Palgrave,  365—369.  Thierry,  Hirt.  de  la  Conquite 
€o  I'Anglcterre  par  lea  Normands,  i.  279— S89. 


118  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

they  wanted.  But  William  had  spiritual  counsellois  at 
hand,  who  knew  as  well  how  to  encourage  men  under  such 
circumstances,  as  he  himself  did  in  the  day  of  battle.  By 
their  advice  the  body  of  St.  Valery,  the  patron  of  that  place, 
where  a  town  had  grown  over  his  cell,  was  taken  from  his 
shrine,  and  carried  in  procession  through  the  camp,  the  sol- 
diers devoutly  kneeling  as  it  passed,  and  praying  for  his  in- 
tercession. In  the  ensuing  night  the  wind  again  veered,  and 
to  the  great  glory  of  St.  Valery,  blew  fair  for  England. 

No  time  was  then  lost ;  they  embarked  with  all  speed, 
and,  to  ensure  order  when  they  should  reach  the  hostile 
coast,  William  enjoined  all  the  ships  to  anchor  round  his  at 
night,  and  not  recommence  their  way  till  the  beacon  on  his 
topmast  should  be  lighted  as  a  signal,  and  the  trumpet  blow. 
Yet,  leading  the  van  himself,  he  outsailed  the  whole  fleet, 
as  if  in  his  impatience  forgetful  at  the  time  of  his  own  in- 
structions ;  and  when  night  closed  not  a  vessel  was  in  sight. 
In  the  morning  nothing  was  to  be  seen  from  the  mast  but 
sea  and  sky.  He  then  anchored,  and  had  a  sumptuous 
breakfast  served,  Avith  spiced  wines,  that  his  crew,  by  good 
cheer,  might  be  kept  in  good  heart.  The  second  time  the 
sailor  went  aloft  he  descried  four  ships  in  the  distance  ;  and 
on  mounting  again  he  exclaimed,  "  I  see  a  forest  of  masts !" 
They  landed,  without  opposition,  on  the  28th  of  September, 
between  Pevensey  and  Hastings,  at  a  place  called  Bulver- 
hithe.  William  occupied  the  Roman  castle  at  Pevensey ; 
erected  three  wooden  forts,  the  materials  of  which  he  had 
brought  with  him  ready  for  construction ;  threw  up  works 
to  protect  part  of  his  fleet,  and  burnt,  it  is  said,  the  rest,  or 
otherwise  rendered  them  unserviceable.  Harold  was  at 
York,  sitting  at  dinner,  and  still  rejoicing  over  his  recent 
victory,  when  the  messenger  arrived  with  the  news  of  Wil- 
liam's Izinding.  He  lost  no  time  in  repairing  to  London  ; 
but  he  is  said  to  have  lost  many  of  his  best  soldiers  by 
taking  to  himself  the  whole  spoil  of  Hardrada's  army,  in- 
stead of  dividing  it  amon^  them.  For  this  he  has  been 
hastily  censured,  as  if  an  ill-timed  and  unwonted  covetous- 
ness  had  been  his  motive :  he  may  have  acted  unwisely,  but 
not  in  this  spirit.  The  men  who  deserted  him  in  disgust 
were  his  own  subjects,  on  whose  service  he  relied,  because 
both  by  duty  and  by  their  common  interest  they  were  bound 
to  serve  him;  his  mercenaries  remained  faithful,  and  as  they 
could  only  have  been  rendered  so  by  the  pay  for  which  they 
served,  it  may  fairly  be  inferred  that  all  spoils  were  in  part 
immediately  appropriated,  and  in  part  reserved  for  their  pay- 
ment.    When  he  reached  London  he  manned  seven  hundred 


BATTLE  or  HASTINGS.  119 

ships,  and  sent  them  round  to  hinder  William's  escape ;  for 
this  also  he  has  been  censured,  as  weakening  thereby  his 
land  forces  by  so  large  a  draught  from  them.  But  Harold 
had  no  distrust  either  of  his  own  or  of  the  nation's  strength, 
and  looking  for  a  second  victory,  he  had  determined  that  it 
should  be  as  decisive  as  the  first.  The  contest  indeed  was 
brought  to  as  speedy  a  termination,  and  as  decisive,  but  with 
far  other  issue  than  the  Anglo-Saxon  king  had,  in  the  pride 
of  his  heart,  anticipated.* 

The  battle  of  Hastings  belongs  not  to  the  subject  of  this 
work.  "Then,"  says  Daniel,  "was  tried,  by  the  great  as- 
size of  God's  judgment  in  battle,  the  right  of  power  between 
the  E  nglish  and  Norman  nations ;  a  battle,  the  most  memo- 
rable of  all  others,  and  howsoever  miserably  lost,  yet  most 
nobly  fought  on  the  part  of  England."  But  it  should  ever 
be  the  proper  object  of  an  historian  to  show  both  how  evil  in 
its  just  consequences  produces  evil,  and  how  all-wise  Provi- 
dence eventually  educes  good  from  it.  The  Norman  conquest 
is  the  most  momentous  event  in  English  history,  perhaps  the 
most  momentous  in  the  middle  ages.  So  severe  a  chastise- 
ment was  never,  except  in  the  case  of  the  Wisigoths,  in- 
flicted upon  any  nation,  which  was  not  destroyed  by  it. 

One  of  the  exhortations  which  William  addressed  to  his 
men  before  the  battle  was,  that  they  should  take  vengeance 
for  the  massacre  of  the  Danes,  their  kinsmen.  More  than 
threescore  years  had  elapsed  since  the  perpetration  of  that 
great  national  crime :  the  Danes  themselves  had  taken  speedy 
and  signal  vengeance  for  their  murdered  countrymen ;  and 
they  had  subsequently,  by  the  eflfects  of  conquest,  compact, 
and  intermarriages,  become  one  people  with  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  to  whom  they  were  as  nearly  allied  in  race  as  to 
the  Normans,  and  with  whom  they  had  always  been  con- 
nected by  the  bond  of  language ;  whereas  the  Normans  had 
rejected  the  speech  of  the  country  from  whence  they  still 
derived  their  name.  In  William's  mouth,  therefore,  this 
was  a  mere  pretext ;  he  would  not  have  advanced  it  if,  in- 
stead of  contending  with  the  conqueror  of  Hardrada,  his  con- 
test had  been  with  the  Norwegians.  In  that  case  he  would 
probably  have  presented  himself  to  the  southern  Anglo- 
Saxons  as  their  avenger  and  deliverer.  But,  in  using  it 
against  Harold,  he  no  doubt  appealed  to  a  prevalent  feeUng 
among  the  various  people  of  whom  his  army  was  composed, 
—-a  feeling  that  the  reproach  and  the  burden  of  a  national 
crime  lay  upon  the  Anglo-Saxons ;  for  there  had  been  no 

♦  Turner,  i.  574-«4.    Palgrave,  369. 37a    Thierry,  i- 889— 292. 


120  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

manifestation,  no  visible  sign  of  national  repentance.  The 
goveniment  which,  as  a  government, — the  nation,  which,  as 
a  nation,  had  inherited  this  unatoned  offence,  were  to  be,  the 
one  for  ever  overthrown,  the  other  subjugated,  oppressed, 
and  finally,  by  a  slow  and  severe  process,  regenerated.  But 
this  was  not  all.  During  the  intervening  years  between  the 
massacre  and  the  conquest,  the  state  of  manners  had  been 
greatly  corrupted.  The  Danes  who  settled  in  England  had 
brought  a  fresh  infusion  of  barbarous  manners  and  barba- 
rous vices  to  a  people  who,  like  all  others,  were  more  apt  to 
retrograde  towards  barbarism  than  to  advance  in  civilization; 
and  the  nation  had  never  been  so  thoroughly  depraved  as  at 
this  time,  when  it  was  punished  for  its  sins  by  a  foreign 
conquest.  Pride  and  sensuality  had  hardened  the  hearts  of 
the  great.  The  means  for  supplying  their  riotous  expendi- 
ture were  procured  either  by  rapine  or  by  the  sale  of  their 
servile  vassals,  and  of  those  who,  either  by  the  law  of  war 
or  by  lawless  violence,  were  in  their  power.  The  mother 
of  earl  Godwin  was  a  regular  dealer  in  slaves,  buying  and 
selling  them,  and  selecting  assortments  of  beautiful  girls  for 
exportation  to  Denmark.  This  woman  was  struck  dead  by 
lightning,  and  her  death  was  regarded*  as  an  infliction  of  Di- 
vine vengeance :  not  that  the  traffic  itself  excited  any  sense  of 
iniquity ;  it  had  become  too  common  for  this,  apart  from  any 
consideration  of  its  origin  as  a  mitigation  of  barbarous  war- 
fare ;  but  the  peculiar  branch  in  which  she  had  become  no- 
torious occasioned  indignation  when  carried  on  by  one  of  her 
sex  and  station.  In  those  ages  parents  exposed  their  chil- 
dren for  sale  in  the  market-place  like  cattle.  Revolting  as 
this  is  to  human  nature,  we  may  be  consoled  by  believing 
that  it  was  the  poverty  of  the  parents  in  most  cases  that 
consented,  not  the  will ;  for  it  is  less  painful  to  contemplate 
distress  than  depravity;  and  we  may  be  humbled  by  the 
certainty  that  the  condition  of  the  children  thus  consigned 
to  bondage  was  far,  far  happier  than  that  of  those  who,  in 
our  own  days,  are — not  sold  indeed, — but  bound  to  a  chim- 
ney sweeper  or  a  cotton  mill.  One  yet  more  odious  feature 
belongs  to  the  slave  trade  of  the  Anglo-Saxons :  their  chiefs 
are  charged  with  selling  for  prostitution,  when  they  were 
tired  of  them,  the  women  whom,  by  an  abuse  of  legal  power, 
they  had  made  their  concubines ;  and  of  selling  at  the  same 
their  own  unborn  offspring.  With  the  utter  pravity  which 
such  impieties  indicate,  impiety  of  another  kind  kept  pace. 
Our  great  and  good  and  glorious  Alfred  had  raised  up  a 

»  Tliierry,  330. 


SINS  OF  THE  NATION.  121 

learned  clergy  in  his  dominions,  of  whose  scriptural  belief 
and  scriptural  labours  there  eire  proofs  still  extant.  That 
belief  had  been  corrupted,  by  the  system  of  fraudulent  su- 
perstition which  Dunstan  and  his  associates  had  superin- 
duced. Amid  the  general  dissolution  of  manners  learning 
was  almost  extinguished ;  while  heathen  practices,  continu- 
ally revived  by  the  influx  of  serai-pagans  from  the  Baltic, 
obtained  among  the  people.  The  outward  observances  of 
Christianity  were  performed  by  the  nobles  with  an  insolent 
irreverence,  which  evinced  but  too  surely  how  entirely  the 
spirit  was  wanting.  We  know  that  this  depravity  was  not 
universal,  because  there  are  some  always  in  all  ages  whom 
their  own  happy  nature,  with  the  assistance  of  God's  grace, 
preserves  from  the  contagion  of  surrounding  wickedness. 
Were  it  not  for  these,  who  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,  the 
whole  human  race  would  be  swept  away  as  at  the  deluge. 
But  it  was  general  enough  to  be  national,  and  to  deserve  and 
draw  on  at  last  a  national  judgment.  That  judgment,  se- 
vere as  it  was,  was  dispensed  in  mercy.  A  race  of  conquer- 
ors was  introduced,  who,  though  not  less  ferocious  than  the 
former  masters  of  the  land,  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree 
the  generous  qualities  and  heroic  virtues  which  are  connect- 
ed with  the  martial  spirit  when  a  sense  of  honour  ennobles 
it.  They  had  wider  views  of  policy,  and  they  were  pro- 
gressive in  civilization.  By  the  time  that  they  became  one 
people  with  those  whom  they  had  subdued,  the  language  of 
the  whole  nation  had  been  changed  by  gradual  interfusion, 
and  that  change  has,  even  more  than  our  insular  situation, 
contributed  to  make  the  English  a  peculiar  people.  But, 
though  the  Anglo-Saxon  throne  was  subverted,  the  nation 
conquered,  the  name  lost,  and  the  language  fused  into  a 
composite  speech,  the  line  of  Alfred  was  restored,  his  spirit 
still  survives  in  his  institutions,  and  the  navy  which  he 
founded  is  still  the  pride  and  strength  of  England. 


CHAP.  in. 

FROM  THE  NORMAN  CONaUEST  TO  THE  ACCESSION  OP 
KING  JOHN. 

A.  D.    1066—1199. 

By  one  hard-fought  and  decisive  battle  William  obtained        Jfjl 
the  throne ;    the  legitimate  heir,  Edgar  Atheling,  though 
popular  both  for  his  descent  and  his  personal  qualities  in 

Vol.  I.  L 


122  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

other  respects,  had  been  previously  set  aside  for  want  of  the 
ability  and  vigour  of  character  necessary  in  such  times ;  and 
as  the  conqueror's  claim  to  the  crown  was  quite  as  valid  as 
that  of  the  slain  king,  the  ehiefs,  seeing  no  present  means 
of  resistance,  and  having  no  alternative,  invited  him  to  ac- 
cept the  crown  which  he  had  won.  Any  national  struggle 
was  not  to  be  apprehended,  and  by  a  system  of  policy  as 
efficient  as  it  was  remorseless,  he  was  prepared  to  prevent 
or  punish  partial  insurrections.  But  danger  might  still  be 
expected  from  Norway,  in  revenge  for  Hardrada's  death ; 
from  Denmark,  in  support  of  its  own  right  of  conquest ;  and 
from  the  sons  of  Harold,  who  had  carried  off  the  greater 
part  of  the  English  naval  force.  William  had  no  fleet 
wherewith  to  guard  against  their  invasions;  the  ships  which 
his  allies  and  associates  had  supplied,  had  returned  to  their 
own  ports  as  soon  as  their  service  was  performed ;  and 
those  which  he  had  built  for  the  passage  had  not  been  con- 
structed for  other  service,  so  that  if  they  were  destroyed 
upon  his  landing,  he  made  little  sacrifice  in  destroying  them. 
infi7  Godwin  and  Edmund,  the  sons  of  Harold,  had  fled  to 
Ireland  after  their  father's  fall ;  they  returned  from 
thence  in  the  ensuing  year  with  threescore  sail,  ascended  the 
Bristol  Channel,  and  debarking  at  the  mouth  of  the  Avon 
plundered  that  fertile  country ;  then  made  an  attack  on  Bristol, 
but  were  bravely  resisted  and  repulsed.  With  whatever  pre- 
text they  came,  or  whatever  claim  of  right  they  might  ad- 
vance, they  acted  as  common  enemies ;  insomuch,  that  when 
having  laden  their  ships  with  booty ;  they  made  a  descent  on 
their  return  upon  the  Somersetshire  coast,  William  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  send  a  Norman  force  against  them,  but 
left  them  to  be  opposed  by  their  own  countrymen,  under  Ed- 
noth,  who  had  distinguished  himself  in  their  father's  service. 
He  gave  them  battle,  and  fell ;  the  loss  was  considerable  on 
either  side,  but  the  invaders  were  so  roughly  handled,  that 
they  took  to  their  ships  and  made  again  for  Ireland.  They  re- 
infift  turned  about  the  following  midsummer,  with  a  fleet  of 
■  nearly  the  same  force,  and  landed  in  the  Tavy,  expect- 
ing, probably,  to  be  joined  by  the  Western  Britons,  and  appa- 
rently not  knowing  that  Exeter,  where  Harold's  mother  had 
taken  refuge,  and  where  the  inhabitants  had  risen  for  her 
sake,  had  been  reduced  by  a  Norman  force.  Earl  Breon, 
with  that  force,  came  suddenly  upon  them,  and  defeated 
them  with  such  slaughter  in  two  battles  on  the  same  day, 
that  of  those  who  arrived  with  more  than  sixty  ships,  there 
escaped  scarcely  men  enough  for  manning  two.  So  severe 
a  loss  deterred  the  Irish  from  affording  any  further  assistance 


EXPEDITION  AGAlKST  THE  NORMANS.  123 

to  the  sons  of  Harold ;  and  the  exiles  repaired  to  Denmark, 
hoping  there  to  meet  with  allies  more  persevering  as  well  as 
more  powerful.* 

Norway  had  sent  forth  so  large  a  proportion  of  its  strength 
in  Hardrada's  fatal  expedition,  that  it  was  in  no  condition  to 
repeat  the  effort.  Harold  had  bound  the  son  of  that  king  by 
an  oath  to  maintain  faith  and  friendship  towards  England  for 
evermore.  That  obligation,  it  might  be  thought,  was  an- 
nulled by  the  Norman  conquest,  and  Olaf  could  hardly  have 
been  bound  by  any  scruple  on  that  score  from  assisting  the 
sons  of  Harold  in  their  attempts  against  the  Norman  con- 
queror ;  but  he  had  obtained  the  name  of  Kyrri,  that  is  to 
say,  the  quiet,  for  his  peaceful  temper,  which,  happily  for 
himself  and  his  people,  suited  the  circumstances  wherein  he 
was  placed.  It  was  otherwise  with  Denmark ;  that  kingdom 
had  lost  none  of  its  strength,  nor  abated  any  of  its  preten- 
sions, and  its  king,  Svend  Estridsen,  believed  that  the  right 
of  inheritance  to  the  crown  of  Englandf  had  vested  in  him 
upon  Edward's  death,  though  Heurold  had  intruded  by  fraud, 
and  the  duke  of  Normandy  afterwards  by  force.  His  claim 
was  likely  to  meet  with  support  from  the  Anglo-Danish  part 
of  the  people,  and,  indeed,  from  the  whole  nation,  who  from 
habits  of  old  licence  had  passed  under  so  severe  an  order, 
that  it  might  well  be  called  oppressive ;  and  William  en- 
gaged Adelbert,  the  archbishop  of  Bremen,  to  use  his  en- 
deavours for  averting  the  danger  by  persuasion,  or  even  by 
money.  The  archbishop,  it  is  said,  was  induced  by  gifts^: 
to  undertake  this  negotiation.  Whether  the  sort  of  Dane- 
gelt,  which  it  was  not  impolitic  thus  to  offer,  was  accepted, 
IS  not  known.  Adelbert's  intervention  was  not  without 
some  effect,  but  only  for  a  time.  The  solicitations  of  the 
emigrants  were  more  effectual,  and  in  the  third  year  after  the 
conquest,  Svend  sent  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  and  forty  sail 
to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  king  of  Scotland  and  the 
Northumbrians,  who  it  was  known  were  ready  for  revolt. 
His  two  sons,  Harold  and  Canute,  embarked  in  the  expedi- 
tion, which  was  under  the  command  of  their  uncle  Osbern  ; 
and  Poles,  Saxons,  and  Frisians  enlisted  in  it,  tempted  by 
the  hope  of  plunder.  They  entered  the  Humber  about  the 
middle  of  August,  landed  in  force,  and  immediately  advanced 
upon  York,  wasting,  with  wonted  barbarity,  the  country  as 

♦  Sax.  Chron.  367— 270.  William  of  Malmesbury,  338.  Turner's  Middle 
Ages  of  England,  i.  98.    Campbell,  i.  77. 

t  Holberg  (i.  181.')  says,  it  is  remarkable  that  most  of  tbe  Danish  writer* 
style  him  king  of  Denniark,  Norway,  and  England. 

}  Pontanus,  189. 


124  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

they  went.     Edgar  Atheling,  and  the  exiles  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  Scotland,  presently  joined  them. 

York  was  occupied  by  a  Norman  gZLpison  under  William 
Malet :  they  were  strong  enough  to  maintain  internal  peace, 
but   not  to  encounter   a  Danish  army  acting  in  a  popular 
cause,  and  with  the  support  of  the  people.     Upon  the  news 
of  their  approach,  the  archbishop  Aldred  is  said  to  have  died 
of  "  very  grief  and  anguish  of  mind,"  for  the  inevitable 
horrors  which  he  foresaw.     Malet  distrusted  the  citizens ; 
and  he  set  fire  to  the  suburb,  lest  they  should  take  advan- 
tage of  it  to  act  against  him.     This  precaution  proved  fatal 
both  to  the  Normans  and  the  city.     A  strong  wind  suddenly 
rising  carried  the   flames    within  the  walls;    the   minster, 
with  its  famous  library,  and  great  part  of  the  city  was  con- 
sumed.    The  Normans  were  driven  out  by  the  fire  which 
they  had  kindled :  in  this  confusion  they  came  unexpect- 
edly upon  the  enemy,  and  were  attacked,  under  all  the  dis- 
advantages of  disorder,  by  a  far  superior    force.     Three 
thouszind  of  them  were  slain, — a  greater  loss  than  any  other 
which  they  sustained  after  the  battle  of  Hastings.     Malet 
and  his  wife  and  children  were  spared  for  the  sake  of  their 
ransom ; — and   this  mercy  would   not    have    been    shown 
toward  the  Norman    chief,  unless   he  had  used  his    own 
power  mercifully.     The   whole   of  Northumbria   rejoicing 
in  this  event,  eagerly  threw  off  the  Norman  yoke;    ana, 
if  a  severe   winter   had   not  set   in   unusually   early,   the 
conquerors   would  have  marched  towards  London  without 
1070    ^^^^7'     The  Danes  wintered  between  the  Ouse  and 
'   the  Trent.     With  the  earliest  spring  William  was 
in  the  field.  On  the  first  tidings  of  the  revolt,  he  heid  sworn 
a  dreadful  oath  that  he  would  lay  Northumbria  waste,  and 
extirpate  its  inhabitants.     One  part  of  that  oath   was  ob- 
served with  atrocious  fidelity ;  and  if  the  other  was  not  in 
like  manner  literally  perfonned,  it  was  for  no  want  of  wicked 
will  in  the  oppressor.     Marching  first  to  the  confluence  of 
the  Trent  and  the  Ouse,  he  there  pitched  his  camp,  and,  in 
the  only  attempt  which  was  made  to  meet  him  in  the  field, 
directed  his  efforts  more  against  the  Northumbrians  than  the 
Danes.     The  issue  was,  that  the  former  were  routed  with 
great  slaughter,  Edgar  Athelingand  a  few  of  his  companions 
flying  again    into  Scotland ;  and  that  the   latter  retreated 
among  the  marshes  of  Lindsey,  where  they  could  not  be 
attacked,  and  from  whence  they  had,  at  any  time,  the  means 
of  removal  in  their  ships ;  for  William  had  no  naval  force 
with  which  to  intercept  their  retreat.     He  treated,  therefore, 
with  Osbem ;  gratified  his  cupidity  with  a  large  sum  of 


NORTHERN  ARMAMENT.  125 

money,  in  addition  to  the  spoils*  wherewith  his  fleet  was 
laden,  and  permitted,  or  'rather  invited,  him  to  plunder  the 
northern  sea-coast,  dn  his  way  back  to  Denmark.  Thus,  in 
ridding  himself  of  these  enemies,  William  made  them  instru- 
mental to  his  own  purposes  of  vengeance.  While  the  Danes 
devastated  the  whole  seaboard,  his  army  laid  the  interior  of 
the  province  waste  with  fire  and  sword.  Not  a  single  habi- 
tation, it  is  said,  was  left  between  York  and  Durham ;  and 
that  whole  tract  of  country,  which  had  been  full  of  towns 
and  cultivated  fields,  remained  desolate  for  a  century  after- 
wards. Above  an  hundred  thousand  persons  are  said  to 
have  suffered  in  this  indiscriminating  havoc,  which,  more 
than  any  other  of  the  conqueror's  actions,  has  fixed  upon 
his  great  name  an  indelible  reproach. "j: 

The  Danish  fleet  suffered  so  much  from  storms  on  its  re- 
turn, that  but  little  of  the  plunder  reached  Denmark ;  and 
Svend  signified  his  displeasure  at  the  corrupt  and  faithless 
conduct  of  the  commander  by  banishing  him.  He  assembled 
a  second  fleet  for  the  assistance  of  his  confederates,  who,  in 
the  fastnesses  of  the  fens,  maintained  a  fierce  independence. 
But  William,  seeing  the  necessity  of  providing  a  maritime 
force,  had,  by  that  time,  collected  ships ;  and  when  Svend's 
son  Canute  came  with  two  hundred  sail,  he  could  neither 
relieve  his  brave  but  unfortunate  allies  nor  venture  to  land, 
though  he  entered  the  mouth  of  the  Thames.  No  farther 
invasion  was  attempted  till  after  the  death  of  Svend,  and  of 
Harold  his  son  and  successor.  Canute,  known  after-  lAQn 
wards  by  the  appellations  of  Saint  and  King,  re- 
sumed the  intention,  stung  to  it,  as  it  seemed,  by  the  re- 
meuibrance  of  his  former  failure  and  of  his  forefathers'  ex- 
ploits.^:  For  this  purpose  he  had  an  interview  with  the  Nor- 
wegian king,  Olaf  the  Quiet,  upon  the  river  Gotalf,  or  Go- 
tha-Elf,  near  Konungediella  (or  Konghell,)  which  was  then 
the  capital  of  Norway.  Canute  represented  that  they  both 
had  hereditary  wrongs  to  revenge  upon  England ;  and  he  pro- 

*  Among  these  were  the  treasureB  of  Peterborough  minster,  for  to  this 
expedition  no  doubt  the  account  in  the  Saxon  Chroniclu  relates  (pp.273 — 
275).  The  author  of  this  portion,  who,  in  Mr.  English's  careful  dissection 
of  this  Chronicle,  issuppitsed  to  have  been  HugoCandidus,  is  mistaken  in 
saying  that  Svend  was  with  the  Danes  in  person.  Campbell  (i.  76.)  repre- 
sents it  as  a  second  invasion. 

tSax.  Chron.281.  Holinshed,  ii.  10— 12.  Pontanus,  189.  Holberg,  i.  181. 
Turner,  i.  102. 

t  "Necenim  contentus  initia  imperii  siiiorientalibusillustrassevictoriis, 
etiam  Angliaro.  infelicitate  amissam,  heereditario  jure  repetendam  existi- 
mavit.  Recolebat  niurirum  bellicam  majorum  jilnriam,  cumque  opibus  im- 
perii flues,  longe  ex  insula:  unius  titulis,  quam  ex  omnibus  orientisspoliis 
exctitisse  illustriores  latiusque  propagates."— Pontaniw,  1U7. 

l2 


126  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

posed  that  Olaf  should  either  take  the  command  of  an  arma- 
ment, to  which  Denmark  would  contribute  sixty  ships,  or 
send  the  same  number  to  his  aid,  if  he  preferred  leaving  the 
command  to  him.  Olaf  replied,  that  he  was  not  wanting  in 
inclination  for  such  an  enterprise,  but  that  Norway  had  ex- 
hausted her  strength  in  Hardrada's  fatal  expedition.  She 
could  no  longer  raise  such  an  army ;  nor  was  he  himself 
such  a  leader  as  his  father  had  been, — ^but  conscious  of  his 
own  inferiority,  and  of  his  incapacity  for  so  weighty  a  com- 
mand. Denmark  might,  with  more  confidence,  rely  upon 
the  good  fortune  which  had  attended  its  wars  with  England. 
He,  therefore,  would  supply  the  appointed  proportion  of 
ships,  and  leave  the  command  and  the  glory  to  Canute. 
Norway  accordingly  supplied  threescore  large  ships,  well 
manned  and  stored ;  and  Canute's  father-in-law,  Robert  le 
Frison,  earl  of  Flanders,  who  took  an  eager  interest  in  the 
expedition,  engaged  to  join  it  with  six  hundred,  the  greater 
part,  no  doubt,  of  far  inferior  burden.  The  united  armament 
would  have  amounted  to  a  thousand  sail.  The  Liimfiord 
was  the  place  of  rendezvous  for  the  Norwegian  and  Danish 
fleets :  the  entrance  to  that  deep  inland  gulf  was  then  navi- 
gable for  great  ships,  though,  in  later  times,  it  has  been  im- 
peded by  an  accumulation  of  sand.  All  was  ready,  and  the 
day  for  sailing  appointed,  when  Canute  discovered  that  his 
brother  Olaf,  governor  of  Sleswic,  who  was  to  have  accom- 
panied him,  had  secretly  withdrawn  to  his  government, 
meaning  to  take  advantage  of  his  absence  and  seize  the 
throne.  He  was  apprehended  and  sent  in  chains  to  Flanders, 
there  to  be  kept  in  safe  prison  by  the  earl ;  but  the  disaffec- 
tion which  he  had  excited  broke  up  the  expedition.  His 
partisans  reported,  that,  because  of  the  delay  thus  occasion- 
ed, the  provisions  for  the  voyage  would  be  found  insuffi- 
cient ;  and  desertion,  in  consequence,  took  place  to  such  an 
extent,  that  Canute  was  left  with  only  the  Norwegian  fleet. 
This  he,  of  necessity,  dismissed,  sending  large  presents  to 
the  king,  and  granting  to  the  Norwegians  the  freedom  of  all 
his  marts  and  ports  in  reward  for  their  fidelity.  And  thus 
the  last  invasion  was  frustrated  with  which  England  was 
threatened  by  those  enemies  who,  during  three  centuries,  had 
been  its  scourge.* 

The  bruit  of  this  intended  expedition  kept  William  in  a 
state  of  anxious  preparation  for  some  two  years,  and  brought 
fresh  burdens  upon  his  unfortunate  subjects.  He  revived  the 
danegelt  upon  this  occasion;  and  because  many  lands  which 

*  Snorre,  Antiq.  Celto-Scand.  226—228.  Pontanus,  197, 198.  Holberg,  i. 
188, 189. 


WILLIAM  RTJFUS.  127 

had  been  charged  with  it  under  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings  were 
exempted  from  this  tax  when  he  granted  them  to  his  nobles, 
he  compensated  the  deficiency  by  raising  it  upon  the  others 
to  six  shillings  a  hide.*  He  did  not,  however,  revive  it  as  an 
annual  supply ;  but  regarded  it  as  originally  intended,  as  an 
impost  to  be  levied  upon  extraordinary  occasions.  In  the  first 
year  of  his  reign  he  could  trust  the  English — even  those  who 
had  been  most  attached  to  Harold — so  well,  as  to  employ 
them  in  defending  him  against  the  first  invaders ;  but  after 
resentment,  distrust,  and  anger  hjid  caused  him  to  rule  over 
them, — not  as  a  king  who  regarded  their  welfare  as  his  own, 
but  as  a  conqueror  who,  for  his  own  security,  must  break 
their  spirits  to  the  yoke, — it  was  only  upon  the  Normans 
that  he  could  rely,  and  upon  the  mercenaries,  whom,  on  this 
occasion,  he  collected  from  all  countries  on  this  side  the 
Alps.  They  were  mostly  foot  soldiers  and  archers;  audit 
was,  indeed,  chiefly  by  archers  that  the  battle  of  Hastings 
had  been  won,  the  bow  not  having  been  used  in  wart  by  the 
Anglo-Saxons  or  Danes.  So  many  were  now  brougnt  over, 
that  their  numbers  oppressed  the  kingdom ;  for  he  quartered 
them  throughout  the  country,  to  be  paid  as  well  as  support- 
ed.:}: Men,  says  the  Saxon  annalist,  wondered  that  the  land 
could  feed  all  that  force.  One  of  the  bands  which  he  en- 
gaged at  this  time  belonged  to  Hugues,  brother  to  the  king 
of  France ;  for  when  the  common  interest  of  all  nations, 
aided  by  the  influence  of  Christianity,  had  put  an  end  to 
the  sea  kings  and  the  system  of  sea  roving,  the  same  class 
of  men  who  had  formerly  been  so  disposed  of  employing 
themselves  now  in  the  land  service,  little  regarding  whom 
they  served,  or  in  what  cause.  Still  further  to  guard  against 
the  apprehended  invasion,  he  ordered  the  land  about  the  sea 
coast  to  be  laid  waste,  that  if  the  Danes  landed  they  might 
find  no  ready  supply  of  food.§ 

The  conqueror  had  felt  the  want  of  a  naval  force ;  and, 
knowing  that  it  could  only  be  supported  by  commerce, 
he  invited  foreigners  to  frequent  his  ports,||  and  promised 
that  they  and  their  property  should  be  perfectly  secure. 
His  successor  had  recourse  to  a  readier  means  for  raising 
ships.  When  his  elder  brother  was  preparing  an  armament 
in  Normandy,  for  the  purpose  of  asserting  his  right  to  the 
English  crown,  the  Red  King  permitted  his  subjects  to  fit 

♦Lyttelton,  iii.  C9,70. 

t  Holinshed,  ii.  26.    "  As  John  Rous  testifietb."    Hardrada,  however,  had 
archers  with  him,  and  was  killed  by  an  arrow. 
X  William  of  Malmesbury,  336.    Holinshed.ii.  23. 
§  Sax.  Chron.  288.  5  Henry,  iii.  508. 


128  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

out  cruisers ;  and  these  adventurers,  who  seem  to  have  been 
the  first  that  may  be  called  privateers,  rendered  him  good 
service ;  for  the  Normans,  knowing  that  there  was  no  navy 
to  oppose  them,  and  that  when  they  landed  they  were  more 
likely  to  be  received  by  their  friends  and  confederates  than 
to  be  attacked  before  they  were  collected  in  sufficient  num- 
bers for  defence,  began  to  cross  the  Channel,  each  at  their 
own  convenience,  without  concert,  or  any  regard  to  mutual 
support ;  and  so  many  of  them  were  intercepted  and  destroy- 
ed by  these  cruisers,  that  the  attempt  at  invasion  was,  in 
consequence,  abandoned.*  The  remainder  of  Rufus's  rei^, 
short  as  it  was,  sufficed,  through  his  own  vigorous  policy 
and  the  carelessness  of  bis  antagonist,  for  him  to  acquire  a 
superiority  at  sea,  which  enabled  him,  at  any  time,  to  in- 
vade Normandy. 

Once  when  he  was  hunting,  a  messenger  from  beyond  sea 
brought  him  news  that  the  city  of  Mans,  which  he  had  added 
to  his  dominions,  was  besieged.  He  instantly  turned  his 
horse,  and  set  off  for  the  nearest  port.  The  nobles  who 
were  in  his  company  reminded  him  that  it  was  necessary  to 
call  out  troops,  and  wait  for  them.  "  I  shall  see  who  will 
follow  me,"  was  his  reply;  "and,  if  I  understand  the 
temper  of  the  youth  of  this  kingdom,  I  shall  have  people 
enough."  Waiting  for  nothing,  he  reached  the  port  almost 
unattended,  and  embarked  immediately,  although  it  blew  a 
storm.  The  sedlors  entreated  him  to  have  patience  till  the 
weather  should  abate,  and  the  wind  become  more  favourable. 
But  he  made  answer,  *'  I  never  heard  of  a  king  that  was 
shipwrecked.  Weigh  anchor,  and  you  will  see  that  the 
winds  will  be  with  us!"  He  has  been  extolled  for  this 
act  of  characteristic  impatience  and  resolution,  because  the 
event  happened  to  be  fortunate :  celerity  was  of  great  im- 
portance ;  and  the  news  of  his  landing,  as  it  was  concluded 
that  he  came  in  force,  sufficed  for  raising  the  siege."}"  It 
was  not  in  him  a  bravado  in  imitation  of  Caesar:  that  well- 
known  story  was  known  to  very  few  in  those  ages, — the  Red 
King  had  neither  inclination  nor  leisure  for  learning ;  and  it 
was  even  more  in  character  with  him  than  with  Caesar,  the 
act  itself  being  of  more  daring  and  less  reasonable  hardi- 
hood. On  the  other  hand,  he  has  been  condemned,  and 
with  more  justice,  as  manifesting,  here  a  spirit  of  audacious 
impiety,  for  which,  among  his  other  vices,  he  was  peculiarly 
noted ;  and  there  are  writers  who,  falling  into  an  opposite 

*  I  follow  Dr.  Campbell's  statement  in  this  (i.  81,  &2.,)  tbough  I  bare  uot 
happened  to  meet  with  his  authorities. 
t  William  of  Malmesbury,  390. 


SHIPWRECK  OF  PRINCE  HENRY.  129 

extreme,  have  presumed  to  say  that  this  special  sin  was 
visited  by  a  special  judsment  upon  the  person  of  his  nephew, 
prince  Henry, — the  pride  and  hope  of  his  father,  and,  in- 
deed, of  the  English  nation,  who  saw  in  him  the  represent- 
ative, by  his  mother's  side,  of  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  line. 
William's  bravado  would,  no  doubt,  be  remembered  after 
that  catastrophe  with  poignant  feelings  by  the  bereaved 
father ;  but  Henry  Beauclerc  had  in  his  own  conscience  an 
unerring  witness  that  his  own  sins  of  ambition  had  too 
surely  deserved  such  a  chastisement.  The  shipwreck  of 
this  young  prince  is  the  next  event  in  the  maritime  history 
of  England.  Many  shipwrecks  have  been  attended  with 
far  greater  loss  of  lives,  and  with  far  more  dreadful  circum- 
stances ;  but  none  can  ever  have  produced  so  general  an 
emotion  in  this  country,  nor  has  any  single  event  ever  been 
the  occasion  here  of  so  much  national  suffering,  as  this, 
which  opened  the  way  for  Stephen's  usurpation. 

After  a  successful  campaign  in  France,  happily  ,|f,rt 
concluded  through  the  pope's  mediation  by  a  peace, 
Henry  embarked  from  fearfleur  for  England,  with  this  hia 
only  legitimate  son,  then  recently  married,  and  in  his  seven- 
teenth year.  One  of  the  finest  vessels  in  the  fleet  was  a 
galley  of  fifty  oars,  called  "  The  White  Ship,"  and  com- 
manded by  a  certain  Thomas  Fitzstephens,  whose  grand- 
father had  carried  over  the  Conqueror  when  he  invaded  the 
kingdom  which  he  won.  Upon  this  ground  Fitzstephens 
solicited  the  honour  of  now  conveying  the  king,  upon  an 
occasion  as  much  more  joyful  as  it  was  less  momentous. 
Henry  was  pleased  with  a  request  preferred  for  such  a 
motive ;  and,  though  having  chosen  a  vessel  for  himself,  he 
did  not  think  proper  to  alter  his  own  arrangements,  he  left 
prince  William,  with  the  rest  of  his  family,  and  their  friends 
and  attendants,  to  take  their  passage  in  the  White  Ship ;  and 
embarking  towards  evening  on  the  25ih  of  November,  in 
fair  weather,  he  sailed  for  England.  There  were  with  the 
prince  his  natural  brother  Richard,  and  their  sister  the  lady 
Marie*  countess  of  Perch,  Richard  earl  of  Chester  with  his 
wife,  who  was  the  king's  niece,  and  her  brother  the  prince's 
governor,  and  the  flower  of  the  young  nobility  both  of  Nor- 
mandyf  and  England,  140  in  number,  eighteen  being  women 
of  the  first  rank :  these  and  their  retinues  amounting,  with 

*  The  Counmss  Notha,  Fabyan  calls  her,  apparently  mistaking  for  her 
real  name  a  word  that  denotes  her  illegitimacy. 

t"  Pene  tola  propago omnium  nobilium  Normannorum,"arc  theabbot  of 
Coggesbale's  words  in  his  Chronicle.    Marteuc  et  Durand,  Vet.  Script.  , 
Ampleg.  Coll.  torn.  v.  805. 


130  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  crew,  to  about  300  persons.  The  prince,  being  detained 
a  little  dSter  his  father,  imprudently  ordered  three  casks  of 
wine  to  be  distributed  among  the  men ;  and  the  captain,  as 
well  as  the  sailors,  drank,  in  the  joy  of  his  heart,  too  freely, 
and  promised  to  overtake  every  ship  that  had  sailed  before 
them.  Accordingly  he  hoisted  all  sail,  and  plied  all  oar*. 
The  evening  had  closed  before  they  started,  but  it  was  bright 
moonlight ;  the  men  exerted  themselves  under  all  the  excite- 
ment of  hilarity  and  pride  and  emulation,  dreaming  of  no 
danger;  the  captain  and  the  helmsman,  under  the  same 
excitement,  were  unmindful  of  any  ;  and  when  the  ship  was 
going  through  the  water  with  all  the  stress  of  oars  and  sails, 
she  struck  upon  a  rock,  called  the  Catte-raze,  with  such 
violence,  that  several  planks  were  started,  and  she  instantly 
began  to  fill.  A  boat  was  immediately  lowered,  and  the 
prince  W3S  escaping  in  it, — which  he  might  easily  have 
done,  for  the  shore  was  at  no  great  distance, — when  his 
sister,  whom  there  had  been  no  time  to  take  off,  or  who  in 
the  horror  of  the  moment  haul  been  forgotten,  shrieked  out  to 
him  to  save  her.  It  was  better  to  die  than  turn  a  deaf  ear  to 
that  call :  he  ordered  the  boat  to  put  hack  and  take  her  in ; 
but  such  numbers  leapt  into  it  at  the  same  time,  that  the 
boat  was  swamped,  and  all  perished.*  The  ship  also  pre- 
sently went  down  with  all  on  board :  only  two  persons,  the 
one  a  young  noble,  son  of  Gilbert  de  Aquila,  the  other  a 
butcher  of  Rouen,  saved  themselves ;  by  climbing  the  mast, 
and  clinging  to  the  top,  they  kept  their  heads  above  water. 
Fitzstephens  rose  after  the  vessel  had  sunk,  and  might  have 
taken  the  same  chance  of  preservation ;  but  cedling  to  mind, 
after  the  first  instinctive  effort,  that  he  haA  been  the  unhappy 
occasion  of  this  great  calamity,  and  dreading  the  reproaches, 
and  perhaps  the  punishment  that  awaited  him,  he  preferred 
present  death  as  the  least  evil.  The  youth  became  exhausted 
during  the  night ;  and  commending  his  poor  companion  to 
God's  mercy  with  his  last  words,  he  lost  his  hold  and  sunk. 
The  butcher  held  on  till  morning,  when  he  was  seen  from  the 
shore  and  saved  ;  and  from  him,  being  the  only  survivor,  the 
circumstancesof  the  tragedy  were  learnt.  The  tidings  reached 

*  "  Which  sudden  clap  of  God's  judgment,  coming  in  a  calm  of  glory, 
when  all  these  bustlings  seemed  past  over,  might  make  a  conscience  shrink 
with  terror,  to  see  oppression  and  supplantation  repaid  with  the  extinction 
of  that  for  which  so  much  had  been  wrought ;  and  the  line  masculine  of 
Normandy  expired  in  the  third  inheritor,  as  if  to  begin  the  fate  laid  on  all 
the  future  succeseion  bitherunto,  wherein  the  third  heir  in  4  right  descent 
seldom  or  never  enjoyed  the  crown  of  England;  but  that,  either  by  usurpa- 
tion or  extinction  of  the  male  blood,  it  received  an  alteration  :  which  may 
teach  princes  to  observe  the  ways  of  righteousness,  and  let  men  alone  witb 
their  rights,  and  God  with  hi?  providence."— X)ant«A  65. 


USAGE  OF  WRECKERS.  131 

England  in  the  course  of  that  day;  but  no  one  would  com- 
municate it  to  the  king  :  no  one,  not  even  those  who  had  lost 
dear  connexions  of  their  own  by  the  same  awful  event,  could 
bear  to  witness  the  first  emotions  of  his  grief.  Three  days' 
they  persisted  in  thus  concealing  it,  till  the  king's  anxiety 
being  at  length  well  nigh  as  painful  as  the  certainty  could 
be,  a  little  boy  was  then  sent  m,  who  weeping  bitterly,  with 
no  counterfeited  passion,  fell  at  his  feet,  and  told  him,  that 
the  White  Ship,  with  all  on  board,  was  lost.  The  king, 
strong  as  he  was  in  body  and  in  mind,  and  in  heart  also,  faint- 
ed at  the  shock  ;  and  though  he  survived  it  many  years,  he 
was  never  afterwards  seen  to  smile.* 

It  had  been  the  custom  of  England  till  this  king's  reign, 
that  when  a  vessel  was  wrecked  on  the  coaist,  both  ship  and 
cargo  became  the  property  of  the  lord  of  the  manor,  unless 
they  who  escaped  from  it  appeared  within  a  limited  time. 
The  usage  was  probably  more  barbarous  than  the  law  that 
licensed  it ;  and  it  was  mitigated  by  a  decree  of  Henry's, 
that  if  one  man  escaped  alive  the  lord  should  have  no  claim.f 
But  even  in  far  later  and  more  civilized  ages  it  has  not  been 
found  easy  to  suppress  the  practice  of  wrecking:|:  among 
men  who  impiously  persuade  themselves  that  they  exercise 
in  it  a  natural  right.  During  Stephen's  turbulent  .._. 
usurpation  the  decree  was  disregarded,  and  the  men 
who  escaped  from  shipwreck  found  their  fellow-creatures  as 
merciless  as  the  elements.  Henry  H,  therefore  revived  his 
grandfather's  law ;  and  enacted  also,  that  even  if  no  per- 
son survived  the  wreck,  but  any  live  animal  escaped  from  it, 
or  was  found  alive  on  board,  the  ship  and  cargo  should  be 
kept  for  the  owners,  if  they  appeared  within  three  ..q, 
months.§  A  jealous  regard  for  the  maritime  strength  **°** 
of  the  nation  was  manifested  by  the  same  king,  m  his  in- 
junction to  the  justices  itinerant,  that  in  every  county  they 
should  strictly  prohibit  any  one,  as  he  valued  life  and  for- 
tune, from  buying  or  selling  any  ship  to  be  carried  out  of 

*  William  of  Malmesbury,  518.  Holinsbed,  ii.  70.  Lyttelton,  Henry  II. 
(8vo.)  i.  198.    Henry,  iii.  48—50.    Turner,  i.  188—191. 

t  Campbell,  i.  88.    Henry,  iii.  503. 

t  So  late  as  the  last  years  of  George  II  's  reign,  lord  Lyttelton  Bay§,  "I 
am  very  sorry  to  observe,  that  notwithstanding  this  law,  made  so  many 
ages  ago,  and  other  statutes  enacted  since,  with  a  view  to  restrain  this 
most  inhuman  barbarity,  it  still  remains  a  foul  reproach  and  disgrace  to 
our  nation."  Methodism  has  since  done  much  towards  putting  an  end  to 
it  in  that  part  of  the  country  which  was  most  infamous  for  this  practice. 
But  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  in  a  most  mournful  instance,  which  is  fresh  in 
my  own  memory,  boats  hovered  about  a  wreck  to  pick  up  the  spoiU,  and 
left  the  sufferers  to  perish. 

§  Henry,  iii.  504. 


132  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

England,  or  from  sending  or  causing  to  be  sent  any  mariner 
into  a  foreign  service.* 

Piracy  and  commerce  had  grown  up  together  in  the  north- 
ern seas,  as  among  the  Phoenicians  and  Greeks  in  ancient 
times.  Or,  perhaps,  commerce  may  more  properly  be  said 
to  have  originated  from  piracy,  the  civilizing  consequence 
of  a  barbarous  cause.  They  flourished  together ;  and,  after 
piracy  had  been  forbidden  by  the  kings  of  the  North  (for  this 
was  one  of  the  first  beneficent  effects  of  Christianity,)  the 
pagan  and  piratical  state  of  Jnlin,  or  Jomsberg  (the  Algiers 
of  the  Baltic,)  which  about  this  time  was  conquered  by  the 
Danish  king  Waldemar  the  Great,  was  one  of  the  largest 
cities  in  Europe,  and,  Constantinople  alone  excepted,  the 
most  frequented  port.j"  But  as  maritime  commerce  had 
been  produced  by  piracy,  so  was  it  both  directly  and  inci- 
dentally rendered  honourable  by  the  same  cause ;  directly, 
when  carried  on  by  the  proud  sea-rovers  themselves,  who 
gloried  in  the  display  and  disposal  of  their  spoils;  incidentally, 
because  they  who  would  otherwise  have  been  peaceable  tra- 
ders, were  compelled  to  sail  in  armed  vessels  for  their  owa 
security ;  and  thus  they  obtained,  in  public  opinion,  a  de- 
gree of  consideration  which  would  not  have  been  conceded 
in  those  days  to  mere  wealth,  nor  to  the  humble  pursuit  of 
gain.  The  Anglo-Saxon  laws  conferred  rank  upon  the  mer- 
chants who  thus  traversed  the  seas  in  defiance  of  all  ene- 
mies ;  but  the  Normans  looked  at  them  only  in  their  mer- 
cantile capacity ;  and  there  is  a  curious  passage  in  the  history 
of  the  Conqueror,  by  his  chaplain,  William  of  Poictou,^ 
which  indicates  both  the  extent  of  their  dealings  and  the 
contempt  with  which  not  only  the  soldiers  but  the  chaplain 
himself  regarded  them.  "The  English  merchants,"  said 
he,  "  add  to  the  opulence  of  their  country,  rich  in  its  own  fer- 
tility, still  greater  riches  and  more  valuable  treasures  by  im- 
portation. These  imported  treasures,  which  were  consider- 
able both  for  their  quantity  and  quality,  were  either  to  have 
been  hoarded  up  for  the  gratification  of  their  avarice,  or  to 
have  been  dissipated  for  the  indulgence  of  their  luxurious 
inclinations.  But  William  seized  them,  and  bestowed  part 
on  his  victorious  army,  part  on  churches  and  monasteries, 
and  to  the  pope  and  the  church  of  Rome  he  sent  an  incredi- 
ble mass  of  money  in  gold,  silver,  and  many  ornaments  that 
would  have  been  admired  even  at  Constantinople." 

•  Henry,  iii.  504. 

t  Turner,  i.  37.    Holberg,  i.  236.    The  different  nations  who  bordered 
upon  the  Baltic  bad  their  respective  quarters  in  the  town. 
t  Quoted  in  Henry,  iii.  484. 


COMMERCIAL  PROSPERITY.  138 

The  ruin  which  was  thus  brought  upon  the  great  mer- 
chants afforded  an  opening  to  the  Jews ;  and  so  many  of 
that  nation  came  from  other  countries  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  inviting  opportunity,  that  their  settlement  in  England 
is  commonly  referred  to  the  time  of  the  Norman  conquest, 
and  the  Conqueror  is  said  to  have  introduced  them  ;*  but 
there  is  legal  proof  that  Jews  were  settled  in  this  island 
long  before,  and  the  strongest  probability  that  they  existed 
here  in  the  time  of  the  Romans.  The  great  services  which, 
in  their  pursuit  of  gain,  this  most  unfortunate  and  persecuted 
people  rendered  to  civilization,  to  science,  and  to  literature, 
nas  scarcely  yet  been  acknowledged  with  sufficient  ^titude. 
By  their  agency  it  was  that  the  Sabaeans  imported  into  Lon- 
don the  frankincense  and  the  spices  of  Arabia ;  that  palm- 
oil  was  brought  from  what  was  then  the  rich  country  about 
Babylon ;  and  silks,  and  gold,  and  precious  stones  from  the 
East.f  The  political  connexion  between  England  and  Nor- 
mandy gave  another  impulse  to  maritime  trade,  by  the  neces- 
sity which  it  created  for  shipping,  and  the  constant  inter- 
course between  the  two  countries.  But  nothing  contributed 
80  much  to  the  growing  strength  and  prosperity  of  the  na- 
tion as  the  five-and-thirty  years  of  tranquillity  which  it  en- 
joyed under  the  vigilant  and  firm  government  of  Henry  I. 
Foreigners,  who  were  driven  from  their  own  countries  by 
the  deadly  feuds  and  barbarous  warfare  which  every  where 
else  afflicted  society,  came  into  England  as  the  only  haven 
of  security.^  Merchants  of  all  nations  frequented  London ; 
the  greater  number  seem  to  have  been  from  Germany ;  and 
when  our  own  harvests  failed,  the  rest  of  the  kingdom  is 
said  to  have  been  supplied  with  corn  from  the  metropolis.§ 
At  other  times  com  was  exported  from  thence  by  licences, 
for  which  a  fine  was  paid  to  the  king.(|  Bristol  carried  on 
a  flourishing  trade  with  Ireland,  whither  it  carried  slaves, 
bred  or  bought  for  the  market ;  with  Norway  and  the  Baltic, 
from  whence  it  brought  furs,  then  an  article  of  clothing  for 
all  who  could  afford  to  purchase  them;  and  with  other 
countries.  English  and  French  merchants  had  settled  in 
some  of  the  Irish  ports,  and  were  introducing,  among  a 
most  barbarous  people,  such  civilization  as  is  promoted  by 
trade.  They  had  cause  to  complain  of  their  treatment  by 
king  Murcard  O'Brien;  but  that  cause  was  presently  re- 
moved,ir  upon  Henry's  threatening  to  prohibit  all  commerce 

*  Anglia  Judaica,  ii.  4.  t  Henry,  iii.  496. 

t  William  of  Malmeabury,  505.  582.  §  Campbell,  i.  92. 

I  Henry,  iii.  494. 

IT  "  For  of  wliat  value,"  sayg  MalmeRbary,  "  could  Ireland  be,  if  deprived 
Vot.  I.  M 


134  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

with  that  island.  Ships  from  Ireland  and  from  Germany  sailed 
np  the  Ouse*  into  the  very  heart  of  York  city,  where  the 
II „.  Jews  were  then  flourishing;  they  flourished  also  at 
'  Lincoln,  then  one  of  the  most  populous  cities  in  the 
kingdom,  and  a  mart  for  all  goods  coming  by  land  and  water ; 
and  it  was  probably  through  their  representations  that  Henry 
I.  connected  the  Witham  and  the  Trent  by  a  navigable  canal, 
now  called  the  Foss  Dyke,  whereby  Lincoln  was  enabled  to 
carry  on  a  foreign  trade.l  "O  England!"  exclaims  Mat- 
thew of  Westminster,  referring  to  this  age,  "thou  wert 
lately  equal  to  the  ancient  Chaldeans  in  power,  prosperity, 
and  glory.  The  ships  of  Tharshish  could  not  be  compared 
with  thy  ships,  which  brought  thee  spices  and  every  precious 
thing  from  the  four  comers  of  the  world.  The  sea  was  to 
thee  an  impregnable  wall ;  and  thy  ports  on  all  sides  as  the 
well  fortified  gates  of  a  strong  castle  !" 

But  this  prosperity  had  no  root  in  the  manners  and  morals 
of  the  nation;  and  England,  which,  under  Henry  Beauclerc, 
had  been  the  happiest  country  in  Europe,  because  the  most 
peaceful,  w£is  rendered  the  most  miserable,  because  all  its 
turbulent  subjects,  and  all  its  evil  passions,  were  let  loose, 
in  consequence  of  Stephen's  usurpation.  Instead  of  colonies 
of  industrious  people,  like  the  Flemings,  whom  Henry  had 
established  in  Pembrokeshire,  Stephen  brought  over  bands 
of  mercenaries  for  his  support ;  and  instead  of  seeing  canals 
formed  for  the  facility  of  trade,  castles  were  erected  through- 
out the  land  as  so  many  strongholds,  from  whence  some 
powerful  freebooter  might  tyrannise  over  the  helpless  in- 
habitants all  around.  Danegelt  was  levied,  not  as  formerly,^ 
to  buy  off  or  to  guard  against  a  northern  invasion,  but  be- 
cause the  usurper  was  threatened  by  the  rightful  heiress  of 
the  throne.  To  complete  the  ruin  brought  upon  commerce 
by  this  general  anarchy,  Stephen  debased  the  money  which 
his  predecessor  had  rigidly  maintained  at  its  just  standard. 
He  had  incurred  the  guilt  of  perjury,  and  of  the  blood  so 
profusely  shed  in  his  quarrel,§  for  the  sake  of  bequeathing 

of  the  merchandise  of  England.  From  poverty,  or  rather  from  the  igno- 
rance of  the  cultivators,  the  soil,  unproductive  of  every  good,  engenders 
without  the  cities  a  rustic  filthy  stvann  of  natives  ;  but  the  English  and 
French  inhabit  the  cities  in  a  greater  degree  of  civilization,  through  their 
mercantile  traffic,"  p.  504. 

*  Henry,  iii.  470.  t  Ibid.    Camden,  467,  468. 

t  Lyttelton,  iii.  71.  He  had  sworn  at  his  coronation  that  he  would  for- 
give the  danegelt,  as  king  Henry  before  him  had  done. — Fabyan,  364. 

§  I  know  not  what  people  Malmesbury  means  by  the  Vituli ;  a  kind  of 
mariners,  be  says,  (p.  (^.j  whose  dearest  connexions  resided  at  Southamp- 
ton ;  and  who,  being  fidi  clientis  of  Robert  of  Gloucester,  bad  influence 
eaough  with  him  to  save  that  place  from  his  vengeance. 


WANT  OF  A  NAVAL  FORCE.  135 

a  throne  to  his  posterity  :  and  it  pleased  God  to  take  from 
him  his  only  son,  the  desire  of  his  eyes,  a  youth  universally 
beloved  for  his  excellent  disposition,  and  removed,  mercifully 
for  himself,  while  he  was  yet  unspotted,  from  the  world. 

One  of  Henry  II.'s  first  measures  was  to  expel  all  ,.,. 
those  aliens  who,  during  the  civil  war,  had  flocked 
into  this  country  to  prey  upon  the  inhabitants ;  thus  he  rid 
the  land  of  the  mercenaries,  the  not  less  odious  race  of  camp 
followers,*  and  those  who  traded  in  the  spoils  of  the  people. 
In  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  he  made  no  efforts  for  raising 
a  maritime  force ;  because,  having  inherited  Normandy  with 
the  English  throne,  and  Anjou  and  Maine  from  his  father, 
and  possessing  the  provinces  between  the  Loire  and  the  Py- 
renees as  the  dowry  of  his  wife,  he  was  master  of  almost 
the  whole  French  coast ;  and  being  in  alliance  with  the  earls 
of  Boulogne  and  Flanders,  he  was  in  no  fear  of  invasion."}" 
But  it  is  ill  policy  to  rely  so  confidently  upon  the  amicable 
disposition  of  foreign  powers,  as  not  to  be  provided  against 
the  consequences  of  any  chang3  in  their  policy.  The  . ,  ~- 
earl  of  Boulogne  claimed,  in  right  of  his  wife,  a  great 
fief  which  Henry  had  re-annexed  as  an  escheat  to  the  de- 
mesne of  the  dukes  of  Normandy.  He  claimed,  also,  some 
revenues  in  England,  £is,  by  the  same  marriage,  belonging 
to  him  by  ancient  right.  Both  were  legal  claims,  and  there 
were  legal  grounds  for  disputing  both ;  but  the  earl  being 
supported  by  his  brother,  the  earl  of  Flanders,  resolved  to 
vindicate  his  right  by  arms.  Accordingly,  he  prepared  to 
invade  England  with  a  fleet  of  600  ships.  The  plan  was 
probably  concerted  with  the  kings  of  France  and  Scotland, 
and  with  the  Welsh  princes ;  and  as  the  threat  of  excom- 
munication was  then  suspended  over  Henry  by  Becket,  that 
also  was,  no  doubt,  relied  on  for  the  disaffection  which  it 
might  produce  among  the  people.  Henry  had  formerly 
thought  that  the  naval  force  which  now  not  only  menaced 
but  seriously  endangered  him  might  at  any  time  be  engaged 
in  his  service,  so  little  safety  is  there  "  in  any  reliance  on  a 
foreign  defence,  if  it  produces  or  encourages  a  neglect  of  any 
necessary  part  of  the  national  strength."^  He  was  on  the 
continent,  at  this  time,  engaged  in  war  with  France,  and 
still  more  seriously  embarrassed  by  his  struggle  with  Becket 

•  "  It  was  a  world's  wonder,"  says  Holinshed, "  to  see  how  suddenly  these 
aliens  were  quite  vanquished,  as  though  they  had  been  phantasms.  Their 
abiding  here  was  nothing  prnfltHble  to  the  subjects  of  the  realm,  as  they 
that  were  accustomed  to  attempt  one  shrewd  turn  upon  another's  neck,  and 
thought  it  lawful  for  them  so  to  do.  Among  them  was  a  great  number  of 
Flemings,  whom  the  king  bated  more  than  the  residue,"  iii.  111. 

t  Lyttelton,  iii.  73.    Turner,  i.  S16.  Ijytteltoa  iv.  109. 


136  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

and  the  papal  power.  But  the  grand  justiciary,  Richard  de 
Lucy,  to  whom  the  guardianship  of  the  realm  had  been  com- 
mitted during  the  king's  absence,  called  forth  that  armed 
force  which,  by  the  law  of  the  land,  was  always  to  be  in 
readiness,  and  he  distributed  it  along  the  coast  in  such 
strength,  that  the  two  earls,  though  they  had  the  command 
of  the  sea,  did  not  venture  to  attempt  an  invasion.  Henry, 
however,  whose  judgment  was  disturbed  by  no  passion  in 
this  case,  deemed  it  prudent  to  compound  with  the  earl  of 
Boulogne,  and  retain  him  for  a  useful  friend.  He  gave  him, 
therefore,  in  lieu  of  all  claims,  an  annual  pension  of  1000/. ; 
for  which,  being  considered  a  benefice,  he  bound  himself  to 
serve  the  king  as  a  vassal.* 

Henry  now  saw  the  necessity  of  attending  to  his  means 
of  maritime  defence.  His  coasts  were  sometimes  infested 
by  Irish  pirates,  who  carried  off  the  inhabitants  and  sold 
them."!"  This  was  one  of  his  motives  for  meditating  the  con- 
quest of  Ireland ;  and  when  that  conquest  had  been  com- 
menced by  a  set  of  private  adventurers,  he  was  provided 
with  a  fleet  for  following  it  up.  "  The  chiefest  and  new- 
est" of  his  ships  was  lost  in  a  storm,  wherein  the  king  was 
in  great  danger,  crossing  from  Normandy  to  England  ;  and 
as  400  persons,  being  the  whole  who  were  on  board,  went 
down  in  her,  the  size  of  the  largest  vessels  is  thus  ascer- 
tained.:^: 

Towards  the  latter  part  of  Henry's  reign,  the  kingdom  of 
Jerusalem  was  offered  to  him,  with  the  keys  of  the  city  and 
of  the  holy  sepulchre,  by  the  patriarch  of  that  city ;  and  he 
was  urged,  in  the  pope's  name,  and  for  the  honour  of  Chris- 
tendom, to  go  in  person  to  the  relief  of  the  Holy  Land, 
according  to  the  obligation  which  he  had  taken  upon  him- 
self, as  part  of  his  penance  for  Becket's  death.  But  if 
Henry  had  ever  been  of  a  temper  to  entertain  views  of 
romantic  ambition,  his  age  for  them  was  then  gone  by.  He 
referred  the  matter  to  an  assembly  of  his  clergy,  and  de- 
manded their  opinion,  whether,  under  the  circumstances  in 
which  he  was  placed,  it  was  his  duty,  at  that  time  to  perform 
the  engagement  into  which  he  had  entered  with  the  Pope. 
The  bishops  and  abbots  who  had  been  convoked  on  this  occa- 


*HoUnshed,  ii.  128.  Lyttelton,  iv.  167— 170.  This  judicious  writer  re- 
marks, that  such  stipulations  were,  in  reality,  of  much  the  same  purport 
with  the  subsidiary  treaties  of  later  ages,— a  sort  of  policy  of  which  the 
kings  of  England,  even  those  of  the  highest  spirit  and  most  warlike  disposi- 
tion, have  continually  availed  themselves  from  the  earliest  times. 

t  Campbell,  i.  99. 

t  Holinshed,  ii.  130.    Charnock,  Hist,  of  Marine  Architecture,  i.  328. 


HENRY  II.  AND  THE  PATRIARCH.        137 

sion,  unanimously  agreed,  not  only  that  he  was  not  bound 
now  to  perform  it,  but  that,  for  the  good  of  his  own  soul, 
he  would  do  much  better  by  remaining  in  his  own  domi- 
nions ;  that  the  promise  which  he  had  made  was  dispensa- 
ble, and  ought  to  be  dispensed  with ;  and  that  it  could  not 
be  allowed  to  prejudice  that  indispensable  obligation  which 
at  his  coronation  he  had  contracted,  to  govern  his  subjects 
well,  and  to  defend  them  against  all  enemies,  foreign  and 
domestic :  this  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  do  if  he 
now  left  the  country.*  Sanctioned  by  this  solemn  opinion, 
Henry  replied  to  the  patriarch,  "  that  he  could  not  leave  his 
dominions  to  become  the  prey  of  the  French  ;  let  others  who 
might  go  without  injury  to  their  subjects  undertake  the 
voyage,  and  he  would  contribute  to  it  largely  from  his 
means."  Upon  this  the  Patriarch  replied,  "  We  want  a 
man,  and  not  money.  Well  nigh  every  Christian  region 
sendeth  us  money,  but  no  land  sendeth  us  a  prince.  There- 
fore, we  ask  a  prince  that  needeth  money,  and  not  money 
that  needeth  a  prince."  At  this  time  the  crusade  was 
preached  with  such  impatient  intolerance,  that  the  Welsh 
prince  and  poet,  Owain  Cyvelioc,  was  excommunicated  by 
archbishop  Baldwin,  for  refusing,  at  his  exhortation,  to  take 
the  cross.  The  Patriarch  demeaned  himself  in  the  same 
spirit ;  for  when  Henry,  who,  to  soften  his  refusal,  had  shown 
him  all  marks  of  respect,  accompanied  him,  for  farther 
honour,  to  the  sea  shore,  the  prelate  gave  way  to  such  intem- 
perance of  anger,  as  if  disappointment  had  rekindled  in  him 
some  old  feeling  of  personal  animosity.  "  Hitherto,"  he  is 
reported  to  have  said,  "  thou  hast  reigned  gloriously,  but 
hereafter  thou  shalt  be  forsaken  of  Him  whom  thou  now  for- 
sakest.  Think  on  Him  what  He  '  hath  given  to  thee,  and 
what  thou  heist  yielded  to  Him  again !  First,  thou  wert  false 
to  the  king  of  France  ;  then  thou  slowest  that  holy  martyr, 
Thomas  of  Canterbury,  and  now  thou  forsakest  the  protec- 
tion of  Christ's  faith  !"  The  king  was  moved,  by  this  inso- 
lence, so  far  eis  to  reply,  "  Though  all  the  men  of  my  land 
were  one  body,  and  spake  with  one  mouth,  they  durst  not 
speak  to  me  such  words."  The  audacious  bigot  made 
answer,  "No  wonder ;  for  they  love  thine  and  not  thee  ;  they 
love  thy  goods  temporal,  and  fear  thee  for  the  loss  of  promo- 
tion; but  they  love  not  thy  soul."  And  having  worked 
himself  up  to  the  height  of  insolent  anger,  he  stretched  out  his 
neck  towards  Henry,  and  exclaimea,  "  Do  by  me  right  as 

*  Maimbourg,  Hint,  des  Croisades,  torn.  ii.  57— 61.  edit,  de  Holland,  quoted 
by  Bayle. 

M  2 


138  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

thou  didst  by  that  blessed  Thomas  of  Canterbury !  I  had 
liever  be  slain  of  thee  than  of  the  Saracens,  for  thou  art  worse 
than  any  Saracen."  The  king  kept  his  temper,  and  calmly 
replied,  "  I  may  not  leave  my  dominions,  because  my  own 
sons  would  rise  against  me  if  I  were  absent." — "  No  won- 
der," retorted  the  Patriarch ;  "  for  of  the  devil  they  came, 
and  to  the  devil  they  go ;  and  so,  says  the  chronicler,  "  he 
departed  in  great  ire."* 

When,  however,  tidings  came  that  Jerusalem  had  fallen, 
and  that  the  holy  sepulchre  was  once  more  in  possession  of 
the  misbelievers,  Henry,  whether  from  an  emotion  of  zeal, 
or  a  desire  to  fly  from  the  perpetual  troubles  which  were 
raised  against  him  by  his  children,  took  the  cross;  and 
allowing  his  subjects,  both  in  England  and  France,  to  swear 
fealty  to  his  son  Richard,  he  prepared  for  accompanying  the 
jipq  king  of  France  to  Palestine."!"  There  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  the  intention  was  real,  though  he  died 
before  it  could  be  carried  into  effect ;  and  when  Richard,  so 
properly  called  Coeur  de  Lion,  succeeded  to  the  throne,  he 
found  the  naval  preparations  far  advanced.:^  Galleys,  larger 
than  the  ordinary  armed  ones,  were  constructed  for  this  expe- 
dition, fifty  of  them  being  of  three  rows  of  oars ;  and  trans- 
ports were  selected  from  the  shipping  of  all  his  ports.  The 
Conqueror's  fleet  had  been  far  more  numerous ;  but  for  the  size 
and  strength  of  the  ships,  this  was  the  most  formidable  ar- 
mament that  had  as  yet  appeared  in  modem  Europe.  Richard 
appointed  it  to  meet  him  at  Marseilles ;  and,  having  received 
the  scrip  and  staff  as  a  pilgrim  from  the  hands  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  Tours,  he  joined  the  French  king,  Philip  Augus- 
tus, at  Vezelay,  and  marched  amicably  with  him  to  Lyons  : 
there  the  number  of  their  respective  hosts  made  it  expedien* 
for  them  to  separate  ;§  Philip   set  out  for  Grenoa,  Richard 

*  Fabyan,  279,  280.  He  relates  this  upon  the  authority  of  "  Peter  Dis- 
roye,  which  made  a  book  in  French  of  the  winning  and  losing  of  the  said 
city  of  Jerusalem."  I  learn,  fromBayle,  that  Maimbourg  relates  the  same 
story.  There,  too,  I  learn,  that  Heraclius  was  not  only,  as  his  conduct  in 
England  shows,  a  most  intemperate  person,  but  a  man  of  scandalous  life. 
He  lived  so  openly  and  ostentatiously  at  Jerusalem  with  the  widow  of  a 
merchant,  that  she  was  called  the  Patriarchess.  The  Patriarch's  parting 
compliment  relates  to  a  story  which  makes  the  Plantagenets.  by  the  founder 
of  their  family,  akin  to  Merlin.  "  Geraldus  Cambrensis,"  says  Fabyan, 
"  descriveth  the  progeny  which  I  overpass,  because  it  is  so  common.  Rich- 
ard his  son  would  often  tell  that  wonder;  and  used  to  say,  No  marvel  if 
they  grieved  the  people,  for  of  the  devil  they  came,  and  to  the  devil  they 
shall,"  p.  281.  But  this  is  as  false  as  the  fable  itself;  for  with  all  Richard's 
vices  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  he  had  a  deep  sense  of  religion. 

f  Turner,  i.  299.  J  Lyttelton,  iii.  74. 

§  "  The  bridge  over  the  Rhone,  with  press  of  people,  brake,  and  manjr, 
both  men  ana  women,  were  drowned.    By  reason  whereof  the  two  kingt. 


LAWS  FOR  THE  FLEET.  1S9 

toward  Marseilles,  At  Chinon  he  promulgated  some  severe 
and  summary  laws  for  the  preservation  of  order  in  his  fleet.  If 
any  man  killed  another  on  board,  he  was  to  be  fastened  to  the 
dead  body,  and  so  thrown  into  the  sea ;  if  the  crime  were 
committed  on  shore,  to  be  bound  to  the  corpse  and  buried 
with  it.  He  who  drew  blood  from  another  by  a  wilful  blow, 
or  struck  at  him  with  a  weapon,  was  to  lose  his  hand ;  a 
hand-blow  that  caused  no  bloodshed  was  to  be  punished  by 
ducking  the  offender  thrice.  Whoever  reviled  or  cursed 
another  should  pay  to  the  offended  party  an  ounce  of  silver 
for  every  oflFence  : — they  could  not  have  been  poor  adventurers 
for  whom  such  a  penalty  was  appointed.  A  thief  was  to  be 
shaven  or  shorn,*  hot  pitch — (the  law  says  boiling)  was  then 
to  be  poured  upon  his  head,  and  the  feathers  of  a  pillow 
shaken  over  it,  as  a  mark  whereby  he  might  be  known  ;  and 
he  was  then  to  be  turned  ashore  on  the  first  land  at  which  the 
ship  might  touch,  j- 

Meantime  the  fleet,  which  had  sailed  firom  Dartmouth,  en- 
countered bad  weather  in  crossing  the  bay  :  ten  ships  were 
separated  from  the  rest.  One  of  tnem,  which  was  a  London 
vessel,  after  beating  off  the  coast  of  Spain  and  Portugal, 
doubled  Cape  St.  Vincent,  and  arrived  off  Sylves ;  that  place 
not  long  before  had  been  taken  by  the  Christians,  and  was 
now  expecting  to  be  besieged  by  the  Moors,  who,  in  great 
force,  were  endeavouring  to  reconquer  the  country,  of  which 
king  Sancho  and  his  father  Alfonso  Henriques  had  dispos- 
sessed them.    The  ship:^:  had  probably  suffered  so  much  on 

for  the  cumbraiices  of  their  trains,  were  constrained  to  dissever  themselves 
for  the  time  of  their  journey."— *ta;'«  Acts  and  Mmuments,  i.  274. 
*  "  Iq  modum  campionis." 

tRymer.i.  52.  Hoi  in  shed,  ii.  213.  A  sort  of  tarrinj  and  feathering,  in  a 
more  refined  way,  was  a  fashion  among  some  of  the  Tupi  tribes.  (Hist,  of 
Brazil,  i.  219.  n.9.)  About  this  time  it  seems  to  have  been  a  brutal  popular 
punishment,  as  in  America  during  the  revolutionary  war.  The  Lurrainers, 
whom  the  emperor  Otho  called  to  his  aid  against  Philip  Augu<-tus,  on  the 
Rhine  honeyed  and  feathered  a  nun,  set  her  on  a  horse,  with  her  face  toward 
the  tail,  and  in  that  miserable  condition  led  her  about  for  several  days.  All 
the  ringleaders  in  this  outrage  were,  by  Philip's  order,  boiled  alive.  Annales 
Novesienses,  A.  D.  1300.  Martene  et  Durand,  Vet.  Script.  Ampliss.  Coll. 
tom.  iv.  567. 

I  It  was,  probably,  by  the  persons  who  consented  to  part  with  this  vesiel, 
that  the  miracle  related  by  Robert  of  Brunne  was  invented.  One  of  the 
ten  ships,  he  says,  which  belonged  to  London  suffered  much  more  than  any 
of  the  others,  being  "  broken  and  all-to-rent"  by  the  storm.  But  there 
were  100  pious  men  on  board,  who  prayed  to  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury,  as 
being  a  saint  of  the  last  creation,  and  most  in  vogue.  Becket  not  only 
came  himself,  with  his  crozier  and  pall,  but  brought  with  him  king  St.  Ed- 
mund the  Martyr,  and  the  bishop  St.  Nicholas, 

Whose  help  is  aye  ready 
To  shipmen  in  alle  case,  when  they  on  him  cry ; 
be  assured  the  crew,  that  God  and  our  Lady  had  instructed  him  and  bis 


140  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAKD. 

the  way  as  to  need  considerable  repairs ;  otherwise,  lax  as 
discipline  was  in  those  days,  it  is  not  likely  that  the  persons 
in  command  should  have  consented  to  the  proposal  of  the 
Portugueze,  that  they  should  let  the  ship  be  broken  up  to 
form  barriers  with  its  timbers,  and  tarry  themselves  to  assist 
in  the  defence  of  the  town,  upon  a  promise  of  being  re- 
warded for  their  services,  and  supplied  with  a  vessel  as 
food  as  their  own.  Nine  others  of  the  fleet  put  into  the 
'agus.  The  king  of  Portugal  was  at  that  time  in  Santarem, 
preparing  against  a  threatened  attack  by  the  Miramamolin  : 
a  chosen  body  of  500  of  these  crusaders  marched  to  his  aid ; 
and  the  news  of  their  advance  sufficed  to  make  the  Moors 
desist  from  their  intention.  The  actual  force,  considering 
its  quality,  was  not  inconsiderable  :  it  was,  no  doubt,  exag- 
gerated by  report ;  and  in  the  age  of  the  crusades,  the  Mos- 
lem knew  not  but  that  a  far  more  formidable  armament 
might  follow.  In  fact,  when  the  king,  leaving  Santarem  in 
safety,  returned  to  Lisbon,  he  found  sixty-three  more  of 
Richard's  navy  newly  arrived  there,  under  the  commanders 
named  Robert  de  Saville*  and  Richard  de  Camuille.  The 
king  came  in  time ;  for  some  of  the  baser  adventurers,  who 
thought  that  whether  the  inhabitants  were  Moors  or  Chris- 
tians they  were  equally  foreigners,  and  the  prey  the  same, 
had  begun  to  plunder  the  surrounding  country,  and  to  com- 
mit disorders  in  the  city  itself.  Sancho  acted  with  great 
prudence,  seeking  rather  to  restrain  the  crusaders  from  far- 
•  ther  mischief  than  to  resent  what  had  already  been  done ; 
and  the  exertions  of  the  English  commanders  seemed  for  a 
time  to  have  succeeded  in  restoring  order.  But  within  three 
days  the  ill  blood  which  had  been  kindled  broke  out  again : 
lives  were  lost  on  both  sides ;  and  the  king,  with  becoming 
spirit,  ordering  the  gates  to  be  shut,  committed  all  the  cru- 
saders who  were  within  the  walls  to  prison.  They  were 
about  700  in  number,  who  had  gone  in  not  with  hostile  in- 
tentions, but  to  gratify  their  curiosity,  or  to  take  their  plea- 
sure. Both  parties,  however  resentful  they  might  be,  saw 
the  expediency  of  coming  to  terms :  restitution  was  made 
on  both  sides :  the  English  engaged  to  maintain  peace  with 
the  king  of  Portugal  and  his  people,  and  they  to  observe  it 
with  all  the  pilgrims  who  were  bound  for  the  holy  war ;  and 
thus  the  quarrel  was  composed. f 

two  companions  to  keep  company  with  king  Richard's  fleet,  and  take 
charge  of  it.  II  appears,  however,  that  for  some  unknown  reason,  they  did 
not  convoy  it  farther  than  the  straits  of  Messina.  Hearne's  Peter  Lang- 
toft,  i.  148.  •  Sabuuille. 

t  Holinshed,  ii.  214,  215.    Turner,  i.  366.    This  account  is  not  to  be  re- 
eonciled  with  that  of  the  Portugueze  authors  (Ruy  de  Pina,  Chron.  del  Rey 


RICHARD  1.  AT  PISA.  141 

Soon  afterwards  the  English  fleet  fell  dovm  the  TagTis : 
just  upon  leaving  that  river  they  were  joined  by  three-and- 
thirty  vessels ;  their  whole  armament  then  amounted  to  106 
sail,  well  manned  and  equipped.  They  arrived  at  Marseilles 
without  farther  delay  ;  but  Kichard,  after  waiting  there  eight 
days,  and  becoming  impatient  of  their  tarriance,  had  hired 
twenty  galleys  and  ten  great  barks,  and  proceeded  to  Genoa. 
He  conferred  there  once  more  with  the  king  of  France, 
whom  indisposition  had  detained,  and  appointing  Messina 
for  their  rendezvous,  whither  he  had  left  orders  for  his  fleet 
to  repair,  he  proceeded  along  the  coast.  Gratifying  a  liberal 
curiosity  as  he  went,  he  landed,  as  opportunity  tempted  him, 
visited  Pisa,  and,  by  an  accident  which  happened  to  his 
ship,  was  compelled  to  put  into  the  Tiber.  The  cardinal- 
bishop  of  Ostia  came  to  welcome  him  there  with  due  cere- 
mony ;  and  did  not  let  the  occasion  slip  of  reminding  him 
that  the  church  of  Rome  had  a  claim  upon  the  king  of  Eng- 
land for  certain  fees  due  on  the  election  of  the  bishop  of  Ely, 
and  the  deposition  of  the  bishop  of  Bourdeaux,  But  instead 
of  discharging  the  demand,  Cceur  de  Lion  reproached  the 
papal  court  for  its  scandalous  simony,  and  specified  cases  in 
which  those  bishops  were  implicated  ;*  and  for  this  reason, 
it  is  said,  he  refused  to  visit  so  polluted  a  city  as  the  capital 
of  the  Christian  world-  Landing  at  Naples  he  visited  the 
abbey  of  St.  Januarius,  for  the  sake  of  seeing  some  dry  and 
shrivelled  bodies  which  were  placed  erect  there  in  a  cell,  as 
ghastly  mementos  of  mortality.  From  thence  he  rode  to 
Salerno,  and  there  awaited  tidings  of  his  fleet.  The  fleet 
had  tarried  eight  days  at  Marseilles,  to  repair  such  damage 
as  they  had  sustained :  the}'  then  sailed  for  Messina  ;f  and 

Don  Sancho,  cap.  8 — 11.  Brandam,  Monarquia  Lusitana,  torn.  iv.  pp.  19. 
25.)  The  Porlugueze  authority  here  is  not  the  best :  but,  probably,  both  ac- 
counts are  true,  and  refer  to  different  expeditions,  for  there  is  evidently  a 
confusion  of  dates.  The  Portugueze  seem  to  relate  the  earlier,  the  English 
the  latter  circumstances;  and  that  both  are  in  the  main  true  is  the  more 
likely,  because  each  relates  what  (on  the  whole)  is  most  to  the  credit  of  the 
other  nation. 

•  Baronius,  speaking  of  this  interview  with  the  cardinal,  says,— "Cui 
rex  turpia  multa  dixit,  improperando  Romanis  simoniam,  quod  septingen- 
tas  marchas  debucrint  habere  pro  consecratione  episcopi  Cenomanensis,  et 
mille  et  quingentas  marchas  pro  legatione  Eliensis  epi?copi,  ot  pccuniam 
magnam,  ne  deponeretur  Burdegalensis  qui  a  cierisis  euis  accusabatur  in 
crimine.  Hiec  de  his :  quie  si  vera  !>unt,  erit  profat>^,  ut  laudanda  sint  tern- 
pora  nostra,  quibusquidquid  simoniacum  sunpicione  tantum  auditur,  procui 
abjicitur ;  et  alite  exactiones,  aliqufi  justu  caus:^  prtetenstesuut  modesiiores. 
Annates  Eccl.  torn.  xii.  p.  802.    Antverpite,  iG09. 

t  The  earliest  mention  of  the  flying  fish  in  any  of  our  English  writers  is, 
probably,  that  which  occurs  in  Hoveden's  account  of  this  voyage: — "In 
mari  illo  circa  Sardenam  et  Corzhege  sunt  piscea  similes  siccis,  que  volant 
in  aera  ezeuntes  a  mari.    Et  cum  volaverint  quasi  per  unnm  stadium. 


h 


142  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

arrived  there  safely  a  few  days  before  Philip  Augustus,  who 
had  lost  many  of  his  ships  on  the  way.  Richard  now  has- 
tened from  Salerno ;  and,  having  reached  Mileto,  proceeded 
from  thence  on  horseback  with  one  knight  only  to  accompany 
him.  Passing  through  a  village,  he  was  told  that  in  one  of 
the  cottages  there  was  a  hawk ;  and  as  if  the  game  laws  of 
his  own  country  had  impowered  him  to  seize  it,  he  went  in 
with  the  intention  of  taking  the  bird  for  his  own  sport  along 
the  road.  But  the  peasant  resisted  this  violence :  his  neigh- 
bours took  up  the  quarrel  in  the  man's  behalf:  they  attacked 
the  king  with  sticks  and  stones,  and  one  drew  his  knife  upon 
him.  Richard  struck  this  fellow  with  the  flat  side  of  his 
sword,  in  humanity  or  in  disdain,  not  choosing  to  use  the 
edge,  and  perhaps  conscious  that  he  had  given  the  provoca- 
tion. The  sword  broke:  he  then  took  up  stones  in  his  own 
defence ;  but  even  Cceur  de  Lion  could  not,  when  unarmed, 
resist  a  handful  of  exasperated  rustics,  and  he  might  have 
perished  here,  even  more  unworthily  than  in  the  catastrophe 
for  which,  after  all  his  heroic  exploits,  he  was  reserved,  if 
there  had  not  been  a  priory  hard  by,  wherein  he  took  refuge.* 
Having  escaped  from  this  danger,  he  passed  the  ensuing 
night  in  a  tent  near  the  Straits  of  Scylla.  His  fleet  came  to 
receive  him ;  and  he  entered  the  noble  port  of  Messina  with 
so  great  a  show  of  power,  and  sound  of  warlike  instruments, 
and  other  signs  of  majesty,  in  the  sight  of  Philip  and  the 
French,  and  of  many  other  nations  there  assembled,  that  it 
struck  fear  into  the  inhabitants,  saith  Hoveden,  and  moved 
no  small  envy  in  the  hearts  of  his  confederates.  Whether 
that  feeling  was  yet  kindled  in  the  mind  of  Philip  Augustus, 
or  not,  that  monarch  perceived  how  likely  it  was  that  if  they 
remained  together  in  the  same  port,  where  they  had  no  com- 
mon enemy  to  occupy  their  attention,  disputes  would  arise 
between  the  two  armies,  and  lead  to  a  difference  between 
the  two  kings.  Wisely,  therefore,  he  embarked  as  soon  as 
possible,  with  the  intention  of  pursuing  his  voyage  to  Pales- 
tine ;  but  contrary  winds  compelled  him  to  put  back,  how- 
ever unwillingly  ;f  and  as  it  was  now  late  in  September, 
the  two  kings  resolved  to  winter  where  they  were,  and  sup- 

iterura  descenduni  in  mare;  et  sunt  ibi  falcones  multi  volantes  post  piscea 
illos,  et  inseqiientes  ut  rapiant  ex  illis  escaio  sibi.  Et  qui  hoc  vidit  testi- 
monium perhibuit,  et  verum  est  testimonium  ejus;  quia  cum  ipse  in  mensa 
sedisset,  videlicet  in  alta  navi,  quidam  ex  piscibus  illis  volantibus  cecidit 
ante  ilium  super  mensam  " 

*  Holinshed,  i.  314.    Turner,  i.  367.    Mills's  Hist,  of  the  Crusades,  ii. 
33-34. 

t  "  Polens  et  invitas  Massanam  reversus  est." — Hoveden. 


RICHARD  I.  AT  MESSINA.  143 

ply  themselves,  meantime,  with  every  thing  needful  for  the 
service  of  the  expedition. 

This  was  no  pleasant  determination  for  the  king  of  Sicily, 
Tancred,  who,  though  illegitimate,  had  recently,  upon  his 
brother's  death,  possessed  himself  of  the  throne,  by  favour 
of  the  barons,  and  disregarding  the  right  of  the  late  king's 
sister.  Even  if  it  had  been  probable  that  all  grounds  of  dis- 
pute could  have  been  obviated  between  the  Sicilians  and 
their  uninvited  and  formidable  guests,  there  was  an  account 
to  be  settled  with  the  king  of  England,  which  it  was  neither 
convenient  to  discharge  nor  easy  to  evade.  Joan,  the  widow 
of  the  late  king  William  the  Good,  was  Cceur  de  Lion's  sis- 
ter, and  Tancred,  upon  his  usurpation,  had  not  only  with- 
held her  dower,  but  imprisoned  her.  Richard's  first  business 
was  to  require  her  immediate  enlargement ;  and  Tancred  ac- 
cordingly sent  galleys  to  bring  her  from  Palermo  to  Mes- 
sina, where  she  was  delivered  to  her  brother.  The  king  of 
England,  on  his  arrival,  had  been  quartered  in  a  house 
among  the  vineyards  in  the  suburbs,  Philip  having  previously 
been  entertained  in  the  palace.  He  now  thought  a  strong- 
hold necessary  for  his  sister's  dignity  till  her  claims  should 
be  settled ;  and,  either  without  attempting  more  conciliatory 
measures,  or  waiting  for  their  result,  he  crossed  the  straits, 
and  took  possession  of  Labaniere,  on  the  opposite  shore.* 
There  he  established  her  with  a  sufficient  force  for  her  pro- 
tection ;  and,  returning  to  Messina,  expelled  the  monks  from 
a  large  monastery,  either  in  an  island,  or  on  the  shore,  which, 
as  being  exposed  to  an  attack  by  the  Moors,  had  been  well 
fortified  ;  this  he  garrisoned,  and  deposited  his  stores  there. 
The  Sicilians  might  well  be  alarmed  at  these  summary  pro- 
ceedings :  the  conduct  of  those  English  who  went  on  shore 
•was  neither  likely  to  win  their  good  will  nor  to  lessen  their 
apprehensions ;  and  on  the  day  after  this  last  act  of  aggres- 
sion a  quarrel  arose,  and  they  shut  the  gates  of  the  city. 
Richard  exerted  himself  greatly  to  repress  the  tumult  that 
ensued  ;  and  when  his  troops  would  have  stormed  the  walls, 
he  rode  through  their  ranks,  commanding  them  to  desist, 
and  striking  with  his  truncheon  those  who  were  most  vio- 
lent. But  these  efforts  only  partially  succeeded ;  and  it  was 
not  till,  having  armed  himself  and  gone  forth  a  second  time, 
that  an  appearance  of  order  was  restored.  He  tlien  took  boat 
for  the  king  of  France's  quarters  to  consult  him  ;  and  by  the 

♦"Transivit  Fluvium  del  Far  (so  Hoveden  calls  the  Strait«  of  Messina) 
et  cepit  munitissimum  locum  qui  diciturle  Baniare."  Possibly  Baguera 
may  be  the  place  intended.  Robert  of  Brunnesays  it  was  an  island  pos- 
sessed By  the  Saracens,  and  that  Richard  slew  themaU.  "  riff  and  rafil" 


144  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

endeavours  of  the  chief  persons  in  authority  on  both  sides 
the  uproar  was  allayed,  the  crusaders  retired  to  their  ships 
or  quarters,  and  the  Sicilians  to  their  homes, 
iiqn         ^^  *^^  morrow,  a  conference  for  the  purpose  of  ad- 

'  justing  all  differences  was  held  at  CoBur  de  Lion'a  * 
place  of  abode  :  the  chiefs  and  prelates  of  the  crusaders 
convened  there ;  and  the  principal  Sicilian  authorities  and 
clergy  came  thither  with  the  king  of  France.  While  they 
were  deliberating  with  the  sincere  desire  on  all  sides  of 
coming  to  reasonable  terms  of  accord,  the  Sicilians, — a  war- 
like people, — confiding,  perhaps,  in  their  numbers  and  in 
the  strength  of  their  city,  (which  had  been  strongly  fortified 
with  towers  and  lofty  bulwarks  by  their  first  count  Roger, 
about  a  century  before,  as  the  key  of  the  island,)  and  more 
impatient  of  the  insolence  of  the  crusaders  than  mindful  of 
their  force,  gathered  together  upon  the  adjacent  heights,  and 
manifested  a  disposition  to  insult  the  English,  if  not  an  in- 
tention of  attacking  them.  Some  of  them  broke  into  the 
quarters  of  Hugo  le  Bruin,  and  wounded  him ;  and  so  great 
an  uproar  arose,  that  Richard,hastily  leaving  the  conference, 
ordered  all  his  people  to  arms;  and  not  waiting  till  they 
could  be  assembled,  set  off  in  person  with  the  few  who  were 
presently  ready  to  ascend  the  heights.  The  Sicilians  seem 
to  have  apprehended  no  danger  on  that  side ;  they  fled  to- 
wards the  city,  and  were  closely  pursued  :  some  of  the  Eng- 
lish entered  before  the  gates  could  be  closed  ;  but  their  com- 
rades having  by  this  time  assembled  in  force  and  fury,  the 
walls  were  stormed,  the  gates  forced,  with  the  loss  of  five 
knights  and  twenty  of  their  attendants,  and  the  English  ban- 
ners were  planted  on  the  towers.  It  is  said  that  Philip  was 
offended  at  this,  and  demanded  that  his  own  banners  should  ■ 
be  planted  in  their  stead : — it  is  more  likely  that  he  wished 
to  see  them  side  by  side.  Even  this  would  not  have  been 
endured  by  the  English,  who,  considering  it  as  a  common 
cause,  were  displeased  that  the  French  had  carefully  ab- 
stained from  taking  any  part  in  the  assault;  but  Richard 
prevented  any  farther  displeasure  on  either  part  by  ordering 
his  own  banners  to  be  taken  down,  and  those  of  the  Knights 
Hospitallers  and  Templars  to  be  set  up  in  their  stead  ;  and 
he  gave  the  city  in  charge  to  those  knights  till  his  demands 
upon  Tancred  should  be  satisfied.* 

Tancred  fortunately  was  not  in  Messina  at  this  time ;  and 
before  he  returned,  the  kings  of  England  and  France,  in  the 
presence  of  the  earls,  barons,  and  others,  both  of  the  clergy 

*6aufred  Mouacbus,  Ub.  iii.  §32.  ApudCaruBii.  Bibl.  Hist.  BegniSic. 
torn.  i.  p.  221. 


LAWS  CONCERNING  GAMING.  145 

and  temporalty,  solemnly  swore  each  to  defend  the  other 
upon  the  expedition,  both  goino-  and  returnin<r,  without  sub-- 
terfuge,  and  in  good  faith.  And  for  the  better  governance  of 
both  armies,  they  made  this  ordinance  with  common  con- 
sent,— that  no  cnisaders,  no  pilgrims  as  they  were  called, 
who  chanced  to  die  on  this  journey,  should  send  any  of  their 
property  home  to  their  own  country  :  their  arms,  horses,  and 
apparel  they  might  dispose  of  at  pleasure,  under  this  restric- 
tion, and  half  of  every  thing  besides;  but  the  other  half 
should  be  taken  possession  of  by  certain  persons  named  for 
that  purpose,  and  go  toward  the  support  of  the  war  in  the 
Holy  Land.  Playing  for  money  at  any  game  was  prohibit- 
ed, wiih  this  exception,  that  the  two  kings  might  play,  and 
command  their  servants  to  do  so  in  their  presence,  but  so 
that  the  loss  in  one  day  and  night  should  not  exceed  twenty 
shillings :  knights  and  chaplains  might  play  to  the  same 
amount,  but  were  to  forfeit  fourfold  as  often  as  they  lost  more 
than  the  sum  appointed ;  and  the  servants  of  archbishops, 
bishops,  earls,  and  barons,  might  in  like  manner  play  by 
their  masters'  command ;  but  if  any  servants  were  found  to 
play  without  such  licence,  they  were  to  be  whipped  round 
the  camp,  naked,  on  three  successive  days ;  if  any  mariners, 
they  were  to  be  ducked  three  mornings  in  the  sea ;  and  any 
others  of  like  mean  degree,  being  neither  knights  nor  chap- 
lains, were  to  be  whipped  as  servants.  All  these  offenders, 
however,  might  redeem  themselves  from  personal  punish- 
ment by  a  payment  at  the  discretion  of  those  persons  at 
whose  disposal  half  the  property  of  the  dead  was  placed, 
such  payment  and  such  fines  for  the  offence  being  appro- 
priated to  the  costs  of  the  war.  A  pilgrim  who  borrowed 
of  another  whilst  they  were  on  the  expedition  was  bound  to 

Eay  the  debt ;  but  if  it  were  contracted  before  they  set  forth, 
e  was  not  bound  to  answer  it  till  his  return  home.  No  one 
might  entertain  the  servant  or  hired  mariner  of  another,  if 
such  person  departed  from  his  master  without  licence ;  a  dis- 
cretionary fine  was  the  penalty.  There  might  be  no  regrat- 
ing  of  meal  or  bread  within  the  compass  of  the  camp,  unless 
it  were  brought  there  by  a  stranger ;  nor  might  any  thing  be 
bought  to  sell  again  in  the  camp,  or  Avithin  a  league  of  it,  ex- 
cept beasts  to  be  killed  within  the  camp.  Bread  made  for 
sale  was  to  be  after  the  rate  of  penny  loaves,  the  English 
penny  being  valued  at  four  pence  Anjouvine.  Other  occu- 
piers in  whatever  wares  they  dealt  might  lay  on  no  greater 
profit  than  one  tenth ;  and  the  king's  money  was  not  to  be 
refused,  unless  it  were  broken  within  the  circle. 
The  king  of  England  demanded  from  the  king  of  Sicily, 
Vol,.  I.  N 


146  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

in  behalf  of  the  dowager-queen  Joan,  the  whole  province  or 
county  of  Mount  St.  Angelo,  with  all  its  appurtenances,  as 
settled  upon  her  for  her  dowry ;  a  golden  chair,  to  which  as 
queen  she  was  by  the  custom  of  that  kingdom  entitled;  a 
golden  table  twelve  feet  in  length,  and  a  loot  and  a  half  in 
breadth ;  two  golden  trestles  for  supporting  it ;  four-and- 
twenty  silver  cups,  and  as  many  silver  dishes.  He  claim- 
ed, also,  as  the  representative  of  his  father,  a  present  intend- 
ed for  him  by  king  William  the  Good,  and  devised  to  him 
by  that  king  in  his  last  illness :  it  consisted  of  a  silk  tent, 
large  enough  for  200  knights  to  sit  at  meat  within  it;*  sixty 
measures  of  wheat,  as  many  of  barley,  and  as  many  of  wine ; 
and  100  armed  galleys,  fully  equipped,  and  victualled  for 
two  years.  This,  no  doubt,  was  intended  not  only  as  a  mark 
of  friendship,  but  as  a  pious  contribution  to  the  holy  war. 
Large  as  these  demands  were,  there  was  no  difficulty  in 
compounding  them.  The  dowager-queen  had  no  inclination 
to  remain  in  Sicily,  and  Tancred  was  desirous  of  obtaining 
CcBur  de  Lion's  friendship;  because  the  acts  of  hostility 
which  already  had  taken  place  had  raised  against  him  an  in- 
ternal enemy.  The  Moors  in  Sicily,  who  were  estimated  at 
100,000,  and  who  had  patiently,  if  not  contentedly,  remain- 
ed in  subjection  during  the  preceding  reign,  had  now  retreat- 
ed with  their  families  and  their  cattle  to  the  mountains,  and 
commenced  from  thence  a  harassing  war  upon  the  Chris- 
tians. Both  parties,  therefore,  desiring  an  agreement,  Rich- 
ard engaged  to  assist  Tancred,  during  his  continuance  ia 
Sicily,  against  all  enemies ;  and  this  had  the  immediate 
effect  of  reducing  the  Moors  once  more  to  obedience. j"  He 
accepted  20,000  ounces  of  gold  for  his  sister,  in  lieu  of  all 
demands,  and  another  equal  sum  on  the  score  of  his  own. 
It  seems,  however,  as  if  he  felt  that  his  own  claims  could 

♦  Robert  of  Drunne  gives  a  more  di{,'iiified  standard  of  admeasurement: 
he  says  it  was 

"  A  pavilion  of  honour  with  rich  atisfement. 
To  serve  an  emperour  at  a  parlement."  Vol.  i.  liii. 
Ilearne  explains  atisfemcnt  to  mean  tissues,  silks,  interlacings.  It  seems  to 
be  from  the  same  root  as  the  Spanish  and  Portugueze  verb  ataviar,  to  adorn  ; 
which  is  of  Arabic  extraction.  Probably,  therefore,  ornament  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words :  tissue  and  silks  are  not  likely  to  have  been  specified  of  a 
silken  tent. 

t  Richardus  de  S.  Germano,  in  his  Chronicon  Siculum,  makes  no  mention 
of  any  differences  between  Tancred  and  the  king  of  England.  He  says, 
that  the  English  and  French  kings,  in  a  dispute  which  arose  between  them, 
burnt  part  of  the  city.  "  Quos  dictus  re.x  Tancredus  magnis  honorans 
xeniis,  ne  civitatemMessantedestruerent,cum  multis  prccibus  iin|)etravit." 
—{Carusii,  Bibl.  Hist.  Sic.  torn.  ii.  548  )  It  is  remarkable  that  nothing 
more  concerning  these  transactions  is  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  Sicilian 
historians ;— a  proof  how  little  we  can  relv  upon  any  inferences  drawn  from 
the  silence  of  early  writers  against  a  single  evidence  of  weight. 


UICHARD  I.  AND  TANCRED.  147 

not  be  legally  maintained ;  for  the  two  kings  contracted  that 
a  marriage  should  take  place,  when  the  parties  should  be  of 
suitable  years,  between  one  of  Tancred's  daughters,  and 
Richard's  nephew  and  presumptive  heir, — that  prince  Arthur, 
whose  tragic  story  has  been  made  familiar  to  all  English 
readers  by  the  greatest  of  all  poets ;  and  the  20,000  ounces 
which  Richard  received  at  this  time  were  accepted  by  him 
as  a  dowry  of  this  princess,  to  be  repaid  by  him  or  his  re- 
presentative in  case  either  of  the  parties  should  die  before 
the  contract  could  be  fulfilled. 

During  the  negotiations  which  terminated  in  this  treaty, 
Richard  acted  in  a  manner  that  manifested  his  consciousness 
of  might  as  well  as  right.  Tancred,  who,  upon  the  arrival 
of  his  formidable  guests,  thought  Messina  no  safe  place  of 
abode  for  himself,  had  left  two  of  his  chiefs  in  command  of 
the  city,  one  of  them  being  his  admiral.  Whether  these 
persons,  as  being  his  favourites,  dreaded  Joan's  resentment, 
or  for  whatever  cause,  they  abandoned  their  charge,  and, 
taking  with  them  their  families  and  their  moveable  wealth, 
fled  from  the  city;  upon  which  Richard,  without  ceremony, 
took  possession  of  their  houses,  their  galleys,  and  their  other 
property.  He  strengthened  the  monastery  which  he  had 
occupied  as  a  depot,  by  cutting  a  deep  and  wide  fosse  for  its 
defence;  and  upon  one  of  the  neighbouring  heights  he  erect- 
ed a  strong  fort.*  Philip  is  said  to  have  resented  the  whole 
of  Richard's  proceedings,  both  during  the  negotiation,  and 
in  the  negotiation  itself,  as  a  breach  of  the  laws  of  hospi- 
tality towards  a  prince  who  had  liberally  received  and  en- 
tertained the  allied  crusaders.  That  he  was  jealous  of  the 
king  of  England's  power  is  certain,  and  that,  able  as  he  was, 
he  looked  with  an  envious  eye  upon  the  superiority  which  ge- 

*  This  fori  he  called  Malegriftbn.  Richard's  conduct  was,  perhaps,  not 
so  unwarrantable  as  it  appears.  The  monastery  which  ho  had  seized  be- 
longed to  the  Grifl()nes, — a  name  given  in  those  parts  to  the  Greeks  at  that 
lime,  it  iii  not  known  for  what  reason  ;  but  it  seems  that  they  were  powerful 
in  Sicily,  and  that  in  breaking  their  power  Richard  rendered  good  service 
to  Tancred  and  the  Sicilians.  "Griflbnes  vero  ante  adventuin  regis  Anglim 
crant  potontiores  omnibus  rcgioncm  ilium  inhabitantibus,  et  oido  habebant 
omncs  homines  Ultramontanus ;  adco  quod  pro  miiiimo  habeliant  illos, 
interticere  ;  nee  erat  qui  adjuvaret.  Bed  ex  quo  rex  Anglise  illuc  venit, 
nialitia  illorum  q'uievit,  et  |iotestas  eruni  minuta  esl.et  facti  sunt  vitiores 
omnibus  inhabitantibus  tcrram  illam  ;  et  spcrantes  se  posse  contra  regem 
Anglia',  sicut  imtucrunt  contra  cattcrus  in  di^bus  antiquis,  inciderunt  in 
fovcam  quam  feccrunt  et  facti  sunt  profugi  in  terra.  Gensautcni  Aiigli- 
cana  in  maxima  habebatur  reverentia  in  regno  Siciliie."  These  are  Hove- 
den's  words ;  and,  therefore,  it  was  as  much  for  Tancred's  eventual  benefit, 
as  for  his  own  immediate  security,  that  Richard  should  give  checkmate  to 
the  Grifl'ons  with  his  castle.  So,  too,  with  regard  to  the  place  called  La- 
banicre,— to  have  taken  it  from  the  Sicilians  would  have  been  a  direct  act 
of  unprovoked  hostility,  whereas  the  Sicilians  might  have  been  well  pleased 
to  set!  it  taken  from  the  Saraccnsi. 


148  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

neral  feeling  conceded  to  Cceur  de  Lion  because  of  the  mag- 
nanimity of  his  character.  There  was  also  a  matter  in  dis- 
pute between  them  which  touched  him  nearly.  His  sister 
Adela  had  been  contracted  to  Richard,  and  sent  to  Henry 
the  Second's  court,  as  the  future  daughter-in-law  of  that 
king ;  but  the  marriage  was  continually  put  off,  and  Richard 
himself  believed  that  this  had  been  in  consequence  of  the 
most  criminal  conduct  on  his  father's  part.  He  refused, 
therefore,  to  fulfil  the  contract,  asserting  that  he  had  full 
proof  of  his  suspicions.  Philip  could  not  press  the  contract 
under  such  disgraceful  circumstances ;  and,  indeed,  Coeur 
de  Lion  had  already  asked  and  obtained  Berengaria,  daugh- 
ter of  the  king  of  Navarre,  in  marriage,  and  expected  her 
to  join  him  under  her  mother's  care  at  Messina.  The  wrong 
here  was  not  on  Richard's  part,  but  on  his  father's  ;  who, 
when  in  his  last  illness  he  breathed  a  curse  upon  his  unduti- 
ful  sons,  might  have  been  better  employed  in  imploring  for- 
giveness for  his  own  misdeeds.  This,  therefore,  led  to  no 
breach  between  the  two  kings ;  and  a  quarrel  which  arose 
between  the  French  and  English  was  appeased  by  their  joint 
exertions. 

One  of  Richard's  galleys  was  sunk  by  a  stroke  of  light- 
ning in  the  harbour ;  and  the  fleet  suffered  so  much  from 
worms*  while  lying  there,  that  it  was  found  necessary  to 
repair  and  careen  many  of  the  ships.  Though  he  had  as  yet 
been  in  no  danger  himself  by  perils  of  the  sea,  yet  those 
perils  had  been  brought  home  to  his  feelings  by  what  the 
French  fleet,  and  some  of  his  own  also,  had  encountered. 
Much  to  his  honour,  this  induced  him,  while  in  Sicily,  still 
farther  to  relax  the  old  laws  concerning  shipwreck,  in  favour 
of  natural  right ;  and  he  resigned  all  claims  on  behalf  of  the 
crown,  in  cases  were  all  on  board  were  lost,  provided  there 
were  any  children  or  brothers  of  the  owners,  who  could 
prove  themselves  to  be  such.  During  the  unusual  tran- 
quillity which  his  winter's  abode  at  Messina  afforded  him, 
Richard's  ever  active  mind  took  a  religious  turn  :  he  began 
seriously  to  reflect  upon  the  licentiousness  of  his  former  life ; 
and,  assembling  all  the  prelates  of  his  host  in  the  chapel  of 

*  "  There  are  in  that  river  of  the  Faro,"  says  Hoveden  (meaning  the 
Straits  of  Messina,)  "  certain  slender  worms,  called,  in  the  language  of  those 
parts,  beom,  who  feed  upon  all  kinds  of  wood  ;  and  when  they  adhere  to  any 
piece  of  wood,  they  never,  unless  they  are  forcibly  removed,  leave  it  till  they 
have  bored  in.  The  holes  which  they  make  when  they  enter  are  small,  but 
they  grow  and  fatten  so  by  feeding  upon  the  wood,  that  they  make  large 
ones  when  they  eat  their  way  out." 

In  a  report  made  to  Henry  VIII.  concerning  the  state  of  his  navy,  if  is 
said  of  one  of  the  ships,  that  "she  must  be  searched  for  worm  holes,  because 
the  hath  been  in  Levant." — Charnock's  Hist,  of  Marine  Architecture,  ii.  107, 


J 


THE  ABBOT  JOACHIM.  149 

the  dwelling  wherein  he  had  taken  up  his  quarters,  he  there 
confessed  his  offences  upon  his  knees  before  them,  express- 
ed his  contrition,  and  humbly  received  the  penance  which 
they  enjoined  him,  promising  to  become,  from  thenceforth,  a 
new  man ;  and  God,  it  is  added,  "  looked  upon  him  with 
eyes  of  mercy,  and  gave  him  a  penitent  heart,  so  that  from 
that  time  he  proved  a  man  fearing  the  Lord,  eschewing  evil, 
and  doing  good."  It  may,  perhaps,  be  true,  that  a  feeling 
of  revengeful  anger  was  the  only  sin  to  which  he  ever  after- 
wards yielded,*  knowing  it  to  be  ^inful :  the  barbarities 
which  he  committed  in  Palestine  were  looked  upon  both  by 
himself  and  others  as  so  many  meritorious  works. 

That  remarkable  person,  the  abbot  Joachim,  whom  many 
protestant  writers  have  accounted  among  the  precursors  of 
Luther,  and  ascribed  to  him  a  degree  of  prophetical  inspira- 
tion, probably  more  because  of  the  hieroglyphical  printsf 
which  have  been  published  as  his  designs,  than  from  his 
genuine  writings,  was  at  that  time  living  in  Calabria,  and 
his  reputation  was  such,  that  Richard  sent  for  him  to  Mes- 
sina. Tancred,  with  whom  he  was  now  upon  amicable  terms, 
may  have  suggested  this  to  him,  for  the  sake  of  confirming 
Richard  in  the  ill  opinion  which  he  entertained  of  the  court 
of  Rome  ;  for  the  pope  pretended  a  title  to  the  realm  of  Si- 
cily upon  the  death  of  the  late  king  without  issue  male,  and 
Joachim  had  declared  loudly  against  the  corruptions  of  the 
papal  church.  The  abbot  came  at  this  flattering  invitation, 
and  edified  Cceur  de  Lion  by  expounding  the  apocalypse; 
assuring  him,  we  are  told,  that  Antichrist  was  born,  and  then 
in  the  city  of  Rome.  Richard  went  afterwards  to  visit  Tan- 
cred at  Catania,  and  both  kings  paid  their  devotions  with 
great  solemnity  at  the  shrine  of  St.  Agatha  in  that  city. 

*"Mr.  Mills  thinks  that  "thel)old,  ardent,  and  valiant  Cceur  de  Lion  , 
had  more  of  the  warlike  spirit  than  of  the  religions  feelings  of  the  age."(ii. 
JO.)  But  Coeur  de  Lion  never  feigned  what  he  did  not  feel ;  and  Radulf  of 
Coggcshall  describes  him  as  attending  the  officers  of  the  church,  not  merely 
with  outward  decorum  but  with  evident  devotion.  A  curious  proof  of  his 
sincerity  is,  that  he  abstained  from  the  communion  for  nearly  seven  years 
V'fore  his  death,  because  of  the  mortal  haired  which  he  rcfented  against 
Philip  Augustus.  "  Ob  tanti  niysterii  reverentiarn,  eo  quodmortale  odium 
crga  regcin  UalliiE  in  corde  gcslavercl." — {Rad.  Cogg.  Martene  ct  Durand, 
"ol.  ^mjiliss.  lorn.  v.  857.)  The  provocation  was,  indeed,  great,  for  Philip 
Augustus  had  been  a  base  enemy  to  Coeur  de  Lion. 

t  They  were  published  at  Venice,  1039,  in  a  curious  volume,  with  the  ac- 
companying prophecies  in  Latin  and  Italian,  and  annotations  by  I'ascbal- 
inus  Reglselmus.  Baronius  (xii.  803.)  justly  takes  occasion,  from  this  inter- 
view, todiscredit  the  supposed  prophet.  "  I'lanu  tani  suis  ijisius  vanis  res- 
ponsis.  qu:im  inanibus  propheticis,  inventus  est  non  Dei  proplietased  pseudo- 
propheta  esse.  Nam  prjcdixit  pleraque  Ventura,  quit  re  veril  caruerunt 
eventu.  Quod  quidcm  signunt  Deus  dedit  populo  suo  ad  cognoacendum  pro- 
pbctam  verum  a  false. 

n2 


150  NAVAL  KISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

There  Tancred  offered  many  and  costly  presents  to  his  now 
sworn  friend  ;  of  which  Richard  accepted  four  large  ships* 
and  fifteen  galleys  for  the  holy  warfare  in,  which  he  was  en- 
gaged, hut  for  himself  he  took  only  a  small  ring  in  token  of 
friendship  :  in  return,  he  presented  the  king  of  Sicily  with  the 
most  precious  of  all  romantic  relics,  if  its  authenticity  could 
have  been  ascertained, — king  Arthur's  enchanted  sword  Ex- 
calebar.  Tancred  accompanied  his  guest  two  days'  journey 
on  his  return  to  Messina ;  and  on  the  way  communicated  to 
him,  it  is  said,  a  letter  which  the  duke  of  Burgundy  had  de- 
livered to  him  from  the  king  of  France,  wherein  Philip  de- 
nounced Cceur  de  Lion  as  a  traitor,  who  had  no  intention  of 
observing  the  peace  he  had  made ;  and  offered  to  assist 
Tancred  with  all  his  forces  against  him.  Cceur  de  Lion, 
upon  this,  replied,  "  I  am  no  traitor,  nor  ever  have  been,  nor 
ever  will  be :  the  peace  which  I  have  made  with  you  I  have 
kept,  and  will  faithfully  keep  ;  nor  can  I  easily  believe  that 
the  king  of  France  should  have  acted  thus  concerning  me; 
being,  as  he  is,  my  liege  lord,  and  my  sworn  comrade  in 
this  pilgrimage."  The  letter,  however,  was  placed  in  Rich- 
ard's hands  ;  and  Tancred  declared,  that  if  the  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy denied  having  brought  it,  he  would  prove  the  charge 
upon  him  by  one  of  his  barons.  When  the  kings  of  France 
and  England  met  shortly  afterwards,  Richard's  lowering 
countenance,  which,  like  his  temper,  was  incapable  of  dis- 
simulation, gave  manifest  token  of  a  displeasure,  the  cause 
for  which  he  presently  expressed.  Philip  pronounced  the 
letter  to  be  a  forgery,  and  accused  Richard  in  his  turn  of 
seeking  a  pretext  for  breaking  off  their  alliance.  It  seems 
that  the  question  concerning  his  sister  Adelahadnotyet  been 
definitively  settled :  however  culpable  that  princess  might 
have  been,  a  great  wrong  had  been  offered  to  the  royal  family 
of  France  in  her  person  ;  and  though  Richard  was  entirely 
innocent  of  that  wrong,  some  compensation,  if  only  to  save 
appearances,  might  properly  be  expected.  To  an  intention 
of  quarrelling  upon  this  point,  Philip  imputed  the  present 
charge  ;  but  as  Richard  had  no  such  view,  his  straight-for- 
wardpurpose  having  already  been  declared  ;  and  as  the  king 
of  France,  on  his  part,  denied  any  knowledge  of  the  letter, 
the  chiefs  on  both  sides,  who  had  the  interest  of  the  expedi- 
tion at  heart,  succeeded  in  bringing  about  an  apparent  recon- 
ciliation. The  story  is  a  strange  one ;  for  it  is  utterly  impro- 
bable either  that  Philip  should  have  written  such  a  letter,  or 
that  Tancred  should  have  forged  it,  or  any  other  person  :  but 

*  "Quos  vocantursers."— iforerfcn. 


BEREN'OARIA.  151 

the  sxibseqiient  conduct  of  Philip  Augustus  towards  Cceur 
de  Lion  made  the  English  ready  to  believe  any  thin^  to  his 
dishonour ;  and  when  that  disposition  exists,  calumnies  will 
always  be  invented  to  gratify  it. 

A  treaty  was  now  concluded  between  the  two  kings,  in 
which  all  their  contending  claims  were  for  the  time  adjusted ; 
and  the  French,  towards  the  end  of  March,  sailed  for  Pales- 
tine. On  the  evening  after  their  departure,  the  dowager- 
queen  Eleanor  arrived,  bringing  with  her  her  son's  betrothed 
bride  Berengaria.  They  had  travelled  by  land  from  Navarre 
•to  Naples,  escorted  by  the  earl  of  Flanders  ;  and,  arriving 
there  in  February,  proceeded  to  Brindisi,  where  they  waited 
till  Philip  should  have  sailed.  Eleanor,  who,  whatever  she 
may  have  been  as  a  wife,  always  seems  to  have  performed 
the  duties  of  a  careful  mother,  consigned  her  charge  then 
to  her  daughter,  queen  Joan  ;*  and  after  remaining  only 
four  days  in  Messina,  embarked  for  England.  No  political 
considerations  had  influenced  Cceur  de  Lion  in  his  choice  of 
a  wife.  He  had  seen  Berengaria  in  her  own  country ;  had 
fallen  in  love  with  her  while  still  fettered  with  a  matrimonial 
contract,  from  which,  for  the  strongest  motives,  he  was  de- 
termined to  free  himself;  and  had  inspired  her  with  a  pas- 
sion that  participated  of  his  own  romantic  character.  In- 
stead of  being  escorted  to  her  bridal  and  coronation  at  the 
court  of  the  great  kingdom  which  had  adopted  her,  Beren- 
garia came  to  join  her  betrothed  husband  on  a  distant  and 
most  hazardous  expedition,  and  accompany  him  on  his  cru- 
sade to  Palestine ;  the  first  woman  of  her  rank  who  partook 
in  the  merit,  the  danger,  and  the  glory  of  such  an  adventure, 
but  not  the  last;  for  she  had  an  illustrious  imitator  in  Elea- 
nor, who,  like  her,  was  of  Spanish  birth,  and,  like  her,  the 
wife  of  an  English  prince.  The  expedition^  was  so  nearly 
ready  for  sea  when  she  arrived,  that  the  marriage  was  not 
celebrated  at  Messina;  and  Berengaria  embarked  for  the 
Holy  Land,  not  in  the  ship  with  Richard,  but  with  the  dow- 
ager-queen Joan.:}: 

*  Robert  of  Brunne  says : — 
"  Dame  Joan  kept  her  dear,  they  lyved  as  bird  in  cage."  vol.  i.  153. 

t  Thirty  busses  from  England  had  just  arrived,  bringing  out  stores  and 
men.  Robert  of  Brunne  says,  Ihey  came  with  the  king's  mother  ;  but  she 
came  by  land  from  Navarre  to  the  Mediterranean. 

X  In  the  French  continuation  of  William  of  Tyre's  history  (apud  Mar- 
tene  et  Durand,  Coll.  Amplis.  tom.  v.  632.,)  it  is  said,  that  vv^ien  queen  Isa- 
bella Rnd  Berengaria  arrived  at  Messina,  Richard  had  sailed,  and  queen 
Joan  was  to  sail  on  the  morrow.  "  La  roine  d'Angleterre  li  dist,  Belle  flUe 
men(^s.moi  cette  dainoiselle  au  roi  voistre  frcre,  et  li  dite  que  jc  li  mande 
qu'il  I'espouse.  Cele  la  receut  volentier,  et  la  roine  retorna  ariere  en 
Poitou." 


152  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

The  fleet  with  which  Cceur  de  Lion  sailed  firom  Sicily, 
consisted  of  thirteen  of  those  large  vessels  called  dromones  ;* 
one  hundred  and  fifty  of  what  were  then  called  busses ;  fifty- 
threef  galleys,  and  a  great  number  of  small  craft.  The  Sicili- 
ans said  that  so  fine  a  fleet  had  never  before  been  seen  in  the 
harbour  of  Messina,  and  probably  never  again  would.  They 
were  amazed  at  the  magnitude,  and  number,  and  beauty  of 
the  ships.:}:  The  French  part  of  the  armament  had  excited 
no  such  admiration ;  and  the  feeling  of  envious  hostility 
which  the  French  king  afterwards  manifested  toward  Rich- 
ard, was,  in  part,  no  doubt,  occasioned§  by  the  knowledga 
of  his  naval  superiority.  The  sailors  also,  were  what  Eng- 
lish sailors  from  that  time  have  never  ceased  to  be  :  in  the 
storms  which  they  encountered  on  their  way  to  the  Levant, 
they  are  said,  by  one  who  was  in  the  fleet,  to  have  done 
every  thing  that  it  was  possible  for  human  skill  to  do.|| 
More  than  any  other  historical  character,  Richard  Cceur  de 
Lion  resembles  a  knight  of  romance ;  and  the  circumstances 
which  occurred  in  his  way  to  Palestine  have  the  air  of  an 
adventure  in  romance  more  than  of  authentic  history,  though 
the  facts  are  incontestible.  '*  He  was  no  sooner  abroad  in 
the  main  sea,  but  a  great  tempest  arose,  wherewith  his 
w^hole  navy  was  sore  tossed  and  turmoiled  up  and  down 
the  seas."^  The  king  himself  was  driven  first  to  Crete, 
afterwards  to  Rhodes.  Three  of  his  ships  foundered  off" 
the  coast  of  Cyprus :  three  others  were  refused  admittance 
into  the  harbours  there ;  they  were  wrecked  in  consequence, 
and  the  men  who  escaped  to  shore  were  cast  into  prison. 

*  "Mighty  great  ships  with  triple  sails."  Holinshed  describes  these,  mean- 
ing that  they  were  three-masted.  The  busses  he  calls  "carikes,  or  rather 
hulks,"  ii.  220. 

t  All  but  the  victuallers,  probably,  were  prepared  for  defence ;  but  the 
galleys  seem  to  have  been  the  only  men-of-war.    The  Romance  of  Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion  says,  he  departed  from  Messina 
"  With  two  hundred  ships,  I  find. 
Sailing  forward  with  the  wind. 
And  afterward  fifteen  galleys 
For  to  ward  his  navies." 

IVeber's  Metrical  Romances,  ii.  D7. 
t  Henry,  iii.  508.    Gauf.  Vinesauf  quoted. 

§  De  Serres  imputes  it  to  personal  dislike,  for  which  he  accounts  thus 
oddly:—"  Les  rois  jurerent-la  une  amitii  fraternelle  et  inviolable;  de  fait  la 
continuelle  et  familiere  hantise  du  chemin  apporta  bien  la  privaut<^,  mais 
la  privaulS  cngendra  mespris,  et  le  mespris  haine,  comme  la  progres  de 
I'histoirc  le  monstrera ;  pour  lecon  fort  notable  aux  rois  et  princes,  jugques 
on  ils  se  doivent  privement  frequenter." — Iiiventairc  General  de  tllist.  de 
France,  i.  381. 

He  allows,  however,  much  to  the  afi^airs  of  the  king's  sister,  Adela,  "Ce 
clou  estoit  attache  au  cceur  de  Philippe."  p.  3S2. 
II G.  Vinesauf,  quoted  by  Henry,  iii.  50:t.  17  Holinshed,  ii.  220. 


C<EnR  DE  LION  IN  CYPRUS.  153 

The  vessel  with  queen  Joan  and  the  lady  Berengaria  on 
hoard  was  driven  in  the  same  direction :  they  requested  per- 
mission to  land,  announcing  who  they  were,  and  that  per- 
mission was  refused.  One  of  the  Comneni  family,  Isaac 
by  name,  had  taken  possession  of  Cyprus  for  himself  in  full 
sovereignty.  Like  other  Greeks,  or  Griffons  as  they  were . 
called,  he  thought  that  the  crusaders,  if  not  worse  than  Sa- 
racens, were  quite  as  much  to  be  dreaded :  such  reports  as 
might  reach  liim  of  Richard's  exploits  at  Messina  were  not 
likely  to  induce  a  more  favourable  opinion ;  and  he  had  at 
this  time  assembled  his  forces  at  Limisso,  with  the  deter- 
mination of  resisting  any  adventurers  who  might  attempt  to 
land.* 

Rhodes  was  not  so  distjuit,  but  that  Richard  heard  how 
his  people  had  been  treated  by  the  Cypriot  emperor  (as  he  was 
styled)  in  time  to  demand  redress.  He  made  immediately 
for  Limisso,  and  found  his  affianced  wife  and  his  sister  still 
off  the  harbour,  in  which  they  had  been  inhospitably,  if  not 
inhumanely,  forbidden  to  enter.  Perhaps  the  very  strength 
of  his  resentment  made  him  feel  that  it  became  him  on  this 
occasion  to  restrain  his  anger.  Thrice  he  demanded  the  libe- 
ration of  his  people,  and  the  restitution  of  whatever  had  been 
saved  from  the  wrecks ;  those  demands  proving  ineffectual, 
he  then  proceeded  to  take  the  justice  that  was  denied  him, 
and  to  inflict  due  punishment  upon  the  offender.  Isaac  had 
easily  captured  men  exhausted  by  long  struggling  with  tem- 
pestuous weather,  and  who  had  hardly  saved  their  lives  by 
swimming  to  shore ;  but  he  must  have  been  the  weakest  of 
men  to  think  of  opposing  a  fleet  of  crusaders  with  a  host  of 
undisciplined  and  half-armed  Cypriots.  Few  of  them,  it  is 
said,  had  any  better  weapons  than  clubs  or  stones ;  and  they 
thought  to  protect  themselves  with  a  barricade  formed  of 
logs,  planks,  chests,  and  benches, — whatever  could  hastily 
be  brought  together.  Richard,  meantime,  proceeded  toward 
the  landing  place  -with  his  galleys  and  small  boats.  His 
archers  led  the  way  and  soon  cleared  it ;  for  their  arrows  are 
said  to  have  fallen  on  the  Cypriots  like  rain  upon  the  sum- 
mer grass.   The  victors,  "  being  but  footmen,  weatherbeaten, 

*  "  Force  que  cil  que  alnient  et  venoient  outre-mer  vousissent  faire  force 
en  I'isle.  ne  rober,  qu'il  fust  apareille  du  defemlre." — Cont.  of  William  qf 
Tyre,  632.  In  this  old  French  account,  it  is  said,  not  that  this  vessel  was 
driven  to  Cyprus  by  stress  of  weather,  but  that  it  arrived  there  when  Joan 
and  the  lady  Berengaria  were  cruising  in  quest  of  the  bridegroom;  that 
they  were  preparing  to  send  a  boat  in  and  inquire  for  tidings  of  him,  when 
Isaac  sent  one  out  to  learn  who  they  were:  having  been  informed,  he  in- 
vited them  on  shore  to  refresh  themselves  ;  and,  on  their  refusing  to  land, 
sent  four  gallpys  to  capture  their  ship.  The  ship  stood  off,  and  presently 
fell  in  with  Richard  and  his  galleys. 


154  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

weary,  and  wet,"  were  in  no  plight  for  pursuing  the  routed 
enemy  :  they  entered  the  town,  and  found  it  deserted  by  the 
inhabitants,  but  full  of  wealth  and  provisions  of  every  kind.* 
Such  of  his  ships  as  were  collected  then  entered  the  port; 
and  Berengaria,  and  his  sister,  were  received  by  Richard  as  a 
conqueror  in  the  city  where  a  refuge  from  the  sea  had  been 
refused  them. 

During  the  course  of  the  day,  Isaac  rallied  the  fugi- 
tives, about  six  miles  from  the  town  ;  and,  as  if  he  supposed 
that  weakness  alone  had  w^ithheld  the  crusaders  from  pursu- 
ing their  advantage,  prepared  to  attack  them  on  the  morrow. 
But  Cceur  de  Lion  allowed  him  no  time  for  this.  Intelligence 
of  his  movements  and  of  his  designs  was  easily  obtained,  for 
Isaac  was  a  tyrant;  guides  also  offered  themselves ;  food,  w-ine, 
and  success  had  presently  refreshed  the  English  :  long  before 
daybreak  they  were  armed,  and  in  motion ;  and  the  Cypriots 
were  taken  so  completely  by  surprise,  that  they  were  "  slain 
like  beasts."!  The  emperor  Isaac  escaped,  not  only  unarmed, 
but  half-naked  ;:J:  so  utterly  had  he  been  unprepared  for  such 
an  attack.  His  horses,  his  armour,  and  his  standard,  were 
taken.  The  standard  was  sent  to  England  ;  and  when  Coeur 
de  Lion  returned  thither,  he  deposited  it  himself  at  king  St. 
Edmund's  shrine.§  Terrified  at  this  second  discomfiture, 
Isaac  now  sent  ambassadors,  proposing  to  restore  the  prison- 
ers whom  he  had  unjustly  captured,  with  all  that  had  been 
saved  from  the  wrecks ;  to  pay  20,000  marks  in  amends  for 
the  loss  that  had  been  sustained  by  shipwreck ;  to  accompany 
Cceur  de  Lion  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  serve  him  there  w^ith 

*  Mills,  ii.  39.    Turner,  i.  371.    Holinshed,  ii.  220. 

t  It  was  in  Cyprus,  according  to  the  romance,  that  Richard  first  made  use 
of  that  famous  battleaxe  which,  before  he  departed  from  England,  he  had 
had  made, 

— "  for  the  nones 
To  break  therewith  the  Saracen's  bonei. 
The  head  was  wrought  right  wele. 
Therein  was  twenty  pounds  of  steel. 
And  when  he  came  into  Cyprus  land, 
The  axe  he  took  in  his  hand. 
All  that  he  hit  he  allto-frapped; 
The  Griffons  away  fast  rapped : 
Nathless  many  he  cleaved. 
And  their  unthanks  there  byleved." 

Weber's  Mel.  Rom.  ii.  87. 
X  Robert  of  Brunnehas  not  failed  to  notice  this: — 

"  Bare  in  serke  and  breke,  Isaac  away  fled."  i.  101. 
5  Recognizing  thus,  I  think,  the  miracle  related  in  a  former  note,  (p. 
140.)  Of  the  three  saints  who  had  taken  charge  of  his  fleet,  this  was  the 
one  whom  Richard  would  prefer;  St.  Thomas  a  Becket  was  not  likely  to 
be  particularly  admired  by  a  king  of  England;  and  St.  Nicholas  was  less 
popular  among  the  English  than  their  royal  countryman,  round  whose 
magnificent  church  the  town  of  St.  Edmundsbury  had  grown. 


RICHARD  MARRIES  LADY  BERENGARIA.  155 

100  knights,  400  light  horsemen,  and  500  well-armed  foot; 
to  acknowledge  him  for  his  sovereign  lord,  and  swear  fealty 
to  him  accordingly  ;  and  place  his  daughter  and  heiress,  as 
hostage,  in  his  hands.  These  conditions,  which  were  proba- 
bly, more  rigorous  than  Richard  would  have  thoug;ht  of 
imposing,  were  admitted.  Isaac  then  came  to  the  king  of 
England  in  the  field  ;  and  there,  in  presence  of  the  chieft  of 
the  crusaders,  swore  fealty,  and  promised,  upon  his  oath  thus 
pledged,  not  to  depart  till  he  should  have  performed  all  for 
which  he  had  engaged.  By  this  time  Richard  had  been  made 
too  well  acquainted  with  his  character  to  place  much  reliance 
either  upon  his  word  or  oath  ;  tents  were  assigned  for  him 
and  his  retinue,  and  a  guard  was  appointed  to  keep  him  in 
custody.  Offended  at  this  or,  affrighted  by  it,  and  with  that 
inconsistency  which  proceeds  from  rashness  as  well  as  fear, 
-he  withdrew  during  the  night,  while  his  guards,  suspecting 
no  such  evasion,  were  asleep,  and  then  sent  messengers  to 
renounce  the  treaty  which  he  had  made.* 

Richard  is  said  not  to  have  been  displeased  at  the  oppor- 
tunity that  this  fresh  provocation  afforded  him.  Guy  of 
Lusignan,  the  dethroned  king  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  last 
Christian  who  bore  that  title  otherwise  than  as  an  empty 
pretension,  having  purchased  his  liberty  from  Saladin  by  the 
surrender  of  Ascalon,  came  at  this  time  to  Cyprus,  with  his 
brother  Geoffrey,  with  Raymond  prince  of  Antioch,  and 
Boemund  his  son,  and  other  rejected  lords  of  Palestine,  to 
implore  Richard's  assistance  for  re-establishing  them  in  their 
lost  estates.  Richard  intrusted  part  of  his  army  to  Guy  and 
Raymond,  that  they  might  pursue  Isaac,  and  prosecute  the 
conquest  of  the  island  by  land ;  while  he,  with  one  part  of 
his  galleys,  and  Robert  de  Turnham  with  the  other,  coasted 
it  and  cut  off  his  flight  by  sea.  Wherever  they  came,  the 
towns,  cities,  and  castles  on  the  coast  were  abandoned  at 
their  approach,  and  they  took  possession  of  all  the  shipping. 
Having  thus  swept  the  coast,  and  precluded  the  possibility 
of  the  emperor's  escape  from  the  island,  Richard  returned  to 
Limisso,  and  there  was  married  to  the  lady  Berengaria  by 
one  of  his  own  chaplains ;  his  queen  was  crowned  the  same 
day  by  the  bishop  Evreux;  the  bishop  of  Bayonne,  and  the 
archbishops  of  Apamea  and  Aux,  assisting  at  the  solemnity. 
Cyprus  is  the  first  island  that  was  ever  conquered  by  an 
English  fleet ;  and  Berengaria  the  only  English  queen  whose 
coronation  was  ever  performed  in  a  foreign  country.  He 
then   moved  into   the   interior,  to  complete  the  conquest. 

•  Holinshed,  ii.  221.    Turner,  i.  371.    Henry,  iii.  131—183. 


156  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

Nicosa,  the  capital,  was  presently  surrendered,  and  the 
strong  castleofCheria  afterwards,  with  which  Isaac's  daugh- 
ter yielded  herself  to  the  conqueror,  who  placed  her  as  a 
companion  with  the  queen.  Toward  the  father  he  was  less 
courteous :  that  rash  and  unhappy  man  had  taken  refuge  in 
a  monastery;  and  when  he  heard  that  the  place  of  his  re- 
treat was  discovered,  and  that  Richard  was  marching  thither, 
every  stronghold  in  the  island  having  been  given  up,  he  threw 
himself  upon  his  mercy,  praying  only  that  his  life  and  limbs 
might  be  spared.  Mercy  was  a  virtue  but  little  practised  in 
those  times.  Richard  sent  him  to  Tripoli,  there  to  be  kept 
close  prisoner  in  chains.  When  the  wretched  man  heard 
this  sentence,  he  said  that  if  he  were  put  in  irons,  it  would 
soon  occasion  his  death :  upon  which  Richard,  with  con- 
temptuous bitterness,  replied,  "  He  saith  well ;  and  seeing 
that  he  is  a  nobleman,  and  that  our  mind  is  not  to  shorten 
his  life,  but  only  to  keep  him  safe,  that  he  may  not  start 
away  again  and  do  more  hurt,  let  his  chains  be  made  of 
silver !" 

Isaac  has  not  been  deemed  worthy  of  any  further  notice 
by  those  who  recorded  the  events  of  Richard's  crusade ; 
most  probably  he  died  in  confinement :  nor  is  any  thing 
more  related  of  his  daughter,  than  that  queen  Berengaria 
either  had,  or  thought  she  had,  cause  for  regretting  that  her 
husband  had  placed  so  attractive  a  companion  about  her  per- 
son. The  Cypriots,  as  is  always  the  lot  of  a  conquered 
people,  paid  heavily  for  passing  from  one  yoke  to  another : 
they  were  immediately  taxed  to  the  unmerciful  amount  of 
half  their  moveables ;  and  the  stores  that  were  found  in  the 
island  were  so  considerable,  that  it  is  said  the  Christian 
armies  in  Palestine  could  hardly  have  carried  on  their  opera- 
tions had  it  not  been  for  this  great  and  casual  supply.*  After 
these  exactions,  Richard,  considering  Cyprus  as  his  own  by 
the  acknowledged  right  of  conquest,  confirmed  to  the  inha- 
bitants the  right  and  usages  which  they  had  formerly  enjoy- 
ed under  the  Greek  emperors,  but  which  had  been  suspended 
during  the  late  usurpation.  He  appointed  Richard  de  Ca- 
muelie  and  Robert  de  Turnham  governors  of  the  island ;  and 
when,  in  the  ensuing  year,  after  a  series  of  exploits  which 
have  rendered  his  name  almost  as  celebrated  in  Mahommedan 
history  as  in  European  romance,  he  was  about  to  leave  Pales- 
tine, having  been  prevented,  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  French 
king,  from  restormg  Guy  de  Lusignan  to  his  lost  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem ;  he  bestowed  upon  him  the  kingdom  of  Cyprus, 

♦  Radulf  of  Coggeshall.    Martene  et  Duraod,  v.8J7. 


THE    GREAT  DROMOND.  157 

as  some  compensation, — a  kingdom  which  his  descendants 
continued  to  possess  for  nearly  three  centuries.* 

Coeur  de  Lion  was  detained  in  Cyprus  only  a  few  weeks 
by  his  marriage,  the  conquest,  and  the  settlement  of  the 
island.  In  his  way  from  thence  to  Acre  he  fell  in  with  a 
vessel  of  the  largest  size,|  sailing  under  French  colours ; 
but  requiring  more  evidence  than  the  colours  and  the  suspi- 
cious language  of  the  spokesman,  he  soon  ascertained  that 
it  was  a  Saracen  ship,  laden  with  stores  of  all  kinds  for  the 
relief  of  Acre,  which  the  Christians  were  then  closely  be- 
sieging. The  brother  of  Saladin  had  despatched  it  from 
Baruk :  there  were  seven  emirs  on  board ;  and  the  number 
of  troops  has  been  stated  by  the  lowest  account  at  650,  by 
the  highest  at  1500.  They  were  brave  men,  well  provided 
with  the  most  formidable  means  of  defence ;  and  desperate, 
because  they  knew  how  little  mercy  was  to  be  expected  from 
a  fleet  of  crusaders.  The  size,  and  more  especially  the 
height,  of  their  ship,  gave  them  an  advantage  which  for  a 
while  counterbalanced  that  of  numbers  on  Richard's  part; 
for  his  ^lleys  could  make  but  little  impression  upon  her 
strong  sides.  Richard's  people,  brave  as  they  were,  were 
daunted  by  the  Greek  fire,  which  was  poured  upon  them, 
which  they  had  never  encountered  before,  but  of  which  what 
they  had  heard  was  enough  to  impress  them  with  dread. 
The  great  dromond,  as  she  is  called,  might  probably  have 
beaten  off  her  assailants  and  pursued  her  course,  if  Richard's 
men  had  not  dreaded  their  king's  anger  more  even  than  the 
terrible  fire  of  the  enemy.  "  I  will  crucify  all  my  soldiers 
if  she  should  escape !"  was  his  tremendous  threat.  His 
example  availed  more  than  his  threat  could  have  done  :  they 
boarded  the  huge  hulk  like  Englishmen;  and  the  Saracens, 
when  they  saw  themselves  overpowered,  ran  below  by  their 
commander's  order,  and  endeavoured  to  sink  the  ship,  that 
their  enemies  might  perish  with  them.  Part  of  the  cargo, 
however,  was  saved  before  she  sunk,  and  some  of  the  crew:|; 

•  Holinshed,  ii.  221,  222.    Turner,  i.  372.    Henry,  iii.  138. 

t  Robert  of  Brunne  thus  describes  it,  in  lines  remarkably  harmonious 
for  their  age  :— 

"At  noon  the  tother  day,  they  saw  far  in  the  sea, 
A  grete  bussc  and  gay,  full  high  of  sail  was  he. 
The  weather  was  full  soft,  the  wynde  held  than  stille, 
The  sail  was  high  o'loft,  they  had  no  wynd  at  will. 
In  Philip  navie  of  France,  a  pencelle  they  put  out, 
His  arines  on  a  lance,  over  all  the  ship  about. 
So  mykel  was  that  barge,  it  might  not  lightly  sail. 
And  BO  heavy  of  charge ;  and  the  wynde  gan  fail."    i.  169. 
t  "Thirteen  hundred  of  which  miscreants,"  says  Sp<-ed  (476.),  "he  sacri- 
ficed to  Mars  and  Neptune."    A  Mahomniedan  might  argiie  from  these 
Vol.  I.  O 


158  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

were  taken  to  mercy,  though  mercy  was  not  the  motive ;  for 
it  was  the  chiefs,  it  is  said,  who  were  spared,  for  the  sake 
of  their  ransom.  If  the  stores  and  ammunition  with  which 
this  ship  was  laden  had  reached  Acre,  it  was  thought  that 
the  city  could  never  have  heen  taken.* 
..„!  It  appears  that  the  ships  of  war  at  this  time  were 
'  all  galleys  ;  that  few  of  them  had  more  than  two  rows 
of  oars,  and  many  of  them  only  one  tier:  these,  being  shorter, 
and  moved  with  more  facility,  were  used  in  the  Levant  for 
throwing  wild  fire.  This  composition,  which  the  Greeks 
called  liquid  fire,f  and  which  by  Latin  and  later  historians 
is  commonly  denominated  Greek  fire,  is  said  to  have  been 
invented  by  Callinicus,  an  architect  of  Heliopolis  (afterwards 
called  Balbec,)  about  the  latter  part  of  the  seventh  century ; 
and  it  continued  in  use  some  six  hundred  years,  till  the  more 
destructive  powers  of  gunpowder  were  applied  to  the  pur- 
poses of  war.  The  invention  proceeded  from  the  school  of 
Egyptian  chemistry ;  for  Callinicus  was  in  the  service  of 
the  caliphs,  from  whence  he  went  over  to  the  Greek  emperor, 
expecting,  perhaps,  a  better  reward  for  his  discovery  from 
the  government  to  which  it  would  be  most  useful.  Con- 
stantinople was,  indeed,  saved  by  it  in  two  sieges ;  Saracen 
fleets  were  deterred  from  attempting  to  pass  the  straits  of 
the  Hellespont,  when  they  knew:t:  that  their  enemies  were 
prepared  with  it;  and  while  the  Greeks  kept  the  secret  of 
the  composition  to  themselves,  as  they  did  most  carefully 
for  four  centuries,§  they  possessed  a  more  efficient  means  of 
defence  than  any  other  people.  When  the  Pisans  were  at 
the  height  of  their  naval  power,  the  emperor  Alexius  sent 
out  a  fleet  against  them,  in  which,  as  it  appears,  for  the  first 
time  lions-heads  of  bronze  were  fixed  at  the  ships'  prows, 
and  from  their  open  mouths  this  liquid  fire  was  discharged 
in  streams.     This  he  devised  as  being  likely  to  terrify  as 

words,  that  the  crusaders  were  heathens,  and  that  they  offered  human  vic- 
tims to  their  false  gods. 

*  Turner,  i.  399.    Mills,  ii.  41.    James,  247. 

t  wvf  uyfov.  J  Nicephorus,  c.  i.t  §9. 

§  Gibbon,  x.  17.  Beckmann,  however  (Hist,  of  Inventions,  English 
trans,  iv.  83.),  says,  that  it  was  used  by  the  Saracens  in  the  year  904,  at  the 
siege  of  Thessalonica,  when  they  blew  fire  through  pipes  into  the  wooden 
works  of  the  besieged,  and  threw  it  among  them  from  other  vessels.  This 
is  stated  by  John  Cameniata,  who  was  a  native  of  that  city,  and  the  words 
^tif  Ti  £ix  Twt  a-iX'jivt^v  r<«  xt(t  dJinia-xi-rif,  seem  certainly  to  describe  the 
Greek  fire.  Yet  I  have  met  with  nothing  to  induce  a  suspicion  thai  the 
Saracens  obtained  the  secret  of  this  composition  till  long  afterwards ;  nor 
had  Gibbon  in  his  wide  researches.  Means  of  projecting  combustibles  haa 
long  been  used ;  at  the  siege  of  Lucca,  Narses  threw  fire  into  the  town. 
Agathiaa,  I.  i.  c.  x.  §  3. 


GREEK  FIRE.  159 

well  as  to  astonish  them  ;  but  the  composition  was,  no  doubt, 
sent  with  surer  effect  from  moveable  tubes.  The  commander 
who  led  the  way  in  this  action  wasted  his  fire;  another 
officer,  when  in  great  danger,  extricated  himself  by  its  use, 
and  burnt  four  of  the  enemy's  ships ;  and  the  Pisans,  who 
saw  that  the  fire  spread  upwards,  downwards,  or  laterally, 
at  the  will  of  those  who  directed  it,  and  that  they  could  not 
by  any  means  extinguish  it,  took  to  flight.* 

The  Greek  fire  was  forced  in  its  liquid  state  from  hand 
engines,  or  thrown  in  jars;  or  arrows  were  discharged,  the 
heads  of  which  were  armed,  more  formidably  than  with 
their  own  barbs,  with  tow  dipt  in  this  dreadtul  composition.f 
During  the  crusades,  the  Saracens  became  possessed  of  the 
secret :  whether  they  discovered  it,  or  it  was  betrayed  to 
them,  is  not  known;  but  they  employed  it  with  terrible  ef- 
fect ;  and  the  crusaders,  who  feared  nothing  else,  confessed 
their  fear  of  this.  At  this  time  it  was  employed  on  both 
sides.  The  only  description  of  a  naval  action  in  those 
ages,  which  explains  the  system  of  naval  tactics,  relates  to 
the  siege  of  Acre,  in  which  Richard  was  engaged.  The 
crusaders  drew  up  their  fleet  in  the  form  of  a  half  moon, 
with  the  intent  of  closing  upon  the  enemy  if  he  should  at- 
tempt to  break  their  line.  Their  best  galleys  were  placed  in 
the  two  ends  of  the  curve,  Avhere  they  might  act  with  most 
alacrity,  and  least  impediment.  The  rowers  were  all  upon 
the  lower  deck ;  and  on  the  upper  the  soldiers  were  drawn 
up  in  a  circle,  with  their  bucklers  touching  each  other.  The 
action  began  a  discharge  of  missile  weapons  on  both  sides ; 
the  Christians  then  rowed  forward  with  all  stress  of  oars, 
endeavouring,  after  the  ancient  manner,  to  stave  in  their 
enemies'  sides,  or  otherwise  run  them  down :  when  they 
came  to  close  quarters,  they  grappled ;  skill  then  was  no 
longer  of  avail,  and  the  issue  depended  upon  personal 
strength  and  intrepidity.:}:  The  Greek  fire  seems  to  have 
been  used  even  when  the  ships  were  fastened  to  each  other  : 
the  likelihood  of  its  communicating  from  the  enemy's  vessel 
io  that  which  had  thrown  it,  was  much  less  when  galleys 
were  engaged,  than  it  would  be  in  vessels  rigged  like  later 
men  of  war ;  and  fire  might  be  employed  more  freely,  be- 
cause there  were  no  magazines  in  danger.  The  crusaders 
had  so  greatly  the  superiority  at  sea,  owing  as  much  to  sea- 

*  AnnaComnena,  I.  xi.  c.  ix.  §3.  5. 

t  Gibbon  says,  that  it  was  also  launched  in  red-hot  balls  of  stone  and 
Iron.    I  doubt  this. 
I  Lyttelton,  iii.  61, 63.    His  account  is  drawn  from  Geoffry  de  Vinesaur. 


160  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

manship  as  numbers,  that  a  sagacious  prisoner,  whom  Philip 
Augustus  interrogated  concerning  the  best  means  whereby 
the  Holy  Land  might  be  recovered  and  maintained,  told  him 
it  would  be  by  keeping  the  seas,  and  destroying  the  trade  of 
Egypt.  His  advice  was,  that  they  should  take  Damietta, 
and  rely  upon  their  fleets  more  than  upon  their  strength  in 
horse  and  foot.* 

,.Q2  The  treasure  or  the  blood  which  Cceur  de  Lion 
expended  in  this  crusade,  would  neither  have  been 
spared  if  he  had  remained  in  Europe,  nor  expended  to  any 
better  purpose  :  he  would  have  been  engaged  in  wars  little 
less  murderous  ;  not  so  much  in  conseqence  of  his  own  dis- 
position, warlike  as  that  was,  as  because  of  the  spirit  of  the 
age,  and  his  relative  position  toward  France.  He  returned 
from  Palestine  without  effecting  the  great  object  of  his  cru- 
sade; that  object,  if  it  were  attainable,  had  been  frustrated 
by  the  conduct  of  the  French  king.  But  he  made  an  honour- 
able peace  with  Saladin,  and  left  an  honourable  name  in  the 
East,  not  for  himself  alone,  but  for  his  nation.  The  atrocious 
acts  of  barbarity  which  he  had  perpetrated  there,  were 
regarded,  in  the  Mahommedan  world,  as  ordinary  affairs  in 
war,  rendering  him  terrible  at  the  time,  but  not  hateful  after- 
wards. Even  in  Europe,  it  was  not  till  nearly  our  own  days 
that  the  recital  of  such  actions  excited  horror  and  indigna- 
tion. Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  was  extolled  by  pope  Celes- 
tinef  for  his  humility,  his  justice,  his  moderation.  Even  the 
people,  from  whom  the  heavy  costs  of  the  expedition  were 
raised,  and  who  were  afterwards  taxed  to  redeem  him  from 
his  iniquitous  imprisonment:!:  by  the  duke  of  Austria,  took  a 
generous  pride  in  the  splendour  of  his  exploits,  and  were 
grateful  to  him  for  the  renown  which  he  had  added  to  the 
English  name.  His  flag  had  been  planted  on  the  walls  of 
Messina.  He  had  beaten  the  misbelievers  wherever  he  had 
encountered  them.  He  had  conquered  the  kingdom  of 
Cyprus,  and  given  it  to  the  dethroned  king  of  Jerusalem. 
He  became  immediately,  and  has  continued  to  be  even  to 
these  times,  the  hero  of  popular  romances  ;§  and  with  his 

*  Bzovius,  Ann.  Eccl.  torn.  ziii.  4. 

t  Baronius,  zii.  870. 

i  The  anonymous  monk  of  Cassini  relates  the  circumstances  of  this 
memorable  captivity  thus: — Rex  Angliie  Hierosolyma  rediens,  inTheutonia 
captus,  imperatori  datur.  Post  modicum  liberatum  et  secum  retentum. 
Imperator,  recepta  ab  eo  fidelitate,  coronat,  et  regnum  ejus  auget."  Apud 
Carusiura,  i.  516.    Thus  history  is  sometimes  written. 

§  It  was  Madame  de  Staiirs  intention  to  have  composed  a  romance  upon 
bu  adventures  in  the  East. 


PLANS  OF  PHILIP  AUGUSTUS.  161 

expedition  to  Palestine  it  is,  that  the  respect  which  has  ever 
since  been  paid  to  the  English  flag  originated.* 

Philip  Augustus  was  bound  by  treaty  and  oath,f  as  well  as 
by  honour,  not  to  make  any  attempt  against  the  territories  of 
Richard,  till  that  king,  his  brother  crusader,  should  have 
returned  to  them.  When,  however,  Richard,  in  contempt  of 
all  laws,  was  detained  a  prisoner  in  Germany,  Philip  not  only 
endeavoured  by  every  means  to  obstruct  his  deliverance  from 
captivity,  but  devised  how  best  to  take  advantage  of  it,  and, 
if  possible,  annex  his  dominions  by  conquest  to  his  own  ;  not 
those  upon  the  continent  alone,  but  England  itself  also. 
The  latter  was  not  so  feasible  a  conquest,  when  Philip  called 
to  mind  the  display  of  naval  force  wliich  he  had  seen  with 
envious  eyes  at  Messina.  He  looked  about  for  a  maritime 
ally :  it  occurred  to  him,  that  he  might  at  the  same  time  pro- 
cure a  pretext  for  the  invasion, — for  even  men  who  have  as 
little  conscience  as  Philip  Augustus  desire,  when  it  can  be 
found,  some  plea  for  their  acts  of  deliberate  injustice  ;  and 
being  at  that  time  a  widower,  he  sent  the  bishop  of  Noyon, 
as  ambassador  to  the  king  of  Denmark,  Canute  VI.,  asking 
his  sister  Ingeborg:!^  in  marriage,  and  proposing,  that  instead 
of  a  dowry,  the  old  claim  of  I3enmark  to  the  crown  of  Eng- 
land should  be  transferred  with  her  to  the  king  of  France, 
and  that  the  Danes  should  assist  him  annually  with  a  mari- 
time force,  till  the  conquest  should  be  completed.  Canute 
laid  the  proposal  before  an  assembly  of  the  states.  Their 
opinion  was,  that  Denmark  had  war  enough  upon  its  hands 
with  its  neighbouring  and  pagan  nation  tlie  W  ends  or  Van- 
dals, who  would  immediately  assail  their  frontiers,  if  their 
forces  were  sent  far  off  to  attack  an  unoffending  people, — a 
great  people  too,  abounding  in  wealth,  and  able  to  defend 
themselves  against  all  foreign  foes.  The  king  of  France's 
proposal,  therefore,  could  not  be  admitted,  and  he  must 
recjuire  some  other  dowry  if  he  desired  this  marriage.     Ten 

*  Campbell,  i.  103.  "  This  famous  king  passes  to  the  Holy  Land,"  says 
Daniel,  "  with  the  spoils  and  treasure  of  three  rich  islands,  Knpland,  Sicily, 
and  Cyprus,— besides  what  Normandy  and  Guicnne  could  f'urnish  him 
withal  ;  and  there  consumed  that  huge  collected  mass,  even  as  violently 
as  it  was  gotten,  though  to  the  exceeding  great  renown  of  liiiu  aud  tliu 
nation."  p.  llti. 

t  The  pope's  expressions,  in  a  letter  to  the  bishop  of  Beauvais,  are  very 
strong: — "  Kex  vesler  regi  Anglorum  sacramento  corporalitcr  pnestito 
tenebatur  aslrictus,  super  indcmnitnte  tarn  oppidorum  qiiam  terrarum 
Euarum,  sibi  fidelitcr  obsorvanda,  saltern  usque  ad  reditum  ab  itinere  pere- 
grationes  sua:.  Sed  contra  fidem  et  sacrameiitum  impudenter  veniens, 
oppida  pra:dicti  regis  violenter  occupavit.terram  suam  hoslili  inanu  crude- 
liter  vastavit." — Baronius,  .xii.  870. 

I  The  name  is  bv  some  writers  called  Galberge,  and  in  Baronius  it  is 
Potjida. 

o3 


162  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

thousand  marks  of  silver  were  then  demanded ;  and  with 
this  portion  the  lady  Ingeborg  was  delivered  to  the  ambas- 
sadors.* 

The  further  history  of  a  marriage  which  originated  thus  in  a 
desire  of  obtaining  a  fleet  with  which  to  invade  and  conquer 
England,  may  not  unfitly  be  related  here,  as  curiously  illus- 
trative of  Philip's  character,  and  of  the  times.  The  king 
met  his  bride  at  Arras,  they  were  married  there,  and  the  queen 
Avas  crowned  with  all  solemnity,  '  She  was  very  beautiful, 
good,  and  accomplished  as  became  her  birth ;  but,  during 
the  ceremony,  the  king  was  observed  to  grow  pale,  and  to 
regard  her  with  an  eye  of  displeasure ;  and  only  a  few  days 
elapsed  before  he  repudiated  her,  upon  a  plea  that  the  mar- 
riage was  unlawful,  because  she  was  related  to  his  former 
wife.  When  Ingeborg  was  made  to  understand  the  cause 
of  her  disgrace,  she  only  pronounced  the  words,  "  Bad 
France,  bad  France !"  and  then  the  name  of  Rome,  signify- 
ing that  she  appealed  to  the  pope  for  justice.  At  that  time 
she  scarcely  understood  any  French,  and  could  not  readily 
comprehend  the  nature  of  a  plea,  for  which  there  was  not, 
in  truth,  the  slightest  ground.  When  it  had  been  perfectly 
explained  to  her,  she  refused  to  return  to  Denmark,  and 
chose  to  retire  into  a  convent,  and  there  abide  the  decision  of 
the  cause  from  Rome.  At  that  court,  accordingly,  Canute,  her 
brother,  preferred  her  just  complaint.  Meantime  Philip  as- 
sembled his  bishops  and  nobles,  and  by  the  pedigrees  which 
he  laid  before  them,  and  which  were  falsified  to  serve  his 
purpose,  obtained  from  them  a  sentence,  that  the  marriage, 
being  unlawful  in  itself,  was  void.  Theirs,  however,  was 
not  the  supreme  court,  and  legates  were  sent  from  Rome  to 
inquire  into  the  proceedings  and  pronounce  their  sentence. 
They  convened  a  council  of  all  the  archbishops,  bishops,  and 
abbots  of  the  realm  at  Paris,  expecting  that,  by  their  accord- 
ance in  judgment,  Philip  would  be  obliged  to  take  back  his 
injured  wife.  But,  says  the  French  historian  of  this  reign, 
the  dogs  were  dumb,  because  they  were  in  fear  of  their 
skins,  j"  The  proceedings  were  thus  indefinitely  prolonged  ; 
and  in  the  third  year  after  this  summary  divorce  by  his  own 
lawless  will,  Philip  Augustus  married  Maria,  daughter  of 
the  duke  of  Moravia  and  Bohemia.  Ingeborg,  meantime, 
was  treated  with  inhumanity,  as  well  as  odious  injustice ; 

♦Pontanus,  286.  Holberg,  i.  257.  William  of  Newbury  is  the  original 
authority. 

fSedquia  fact!  sunt  canes  muti,  non  volentes  latrare,  timentes  pelli 
SUB,  nihil  ad  perfectura  deduxerunt."— iiic'ordus,  Hist.  Franc.  Script.  Fet. 
xi.  194. 


QUEEN  INGEBORO.  163 

the  allowance  made  her  was  not  sufficient  for  her  decent 
support;  she  was  without  a  friend  to  comfort  her  in  her  se- 
clusion, and  when  the  kingdom,  after  another  interval  .,  ,0 
of  three  years,  was  laid  under  an  interdict  on  this  ac-  *^^"^* 
count,  the  king  vented  his  anger,  not  upon  the  clergy  alone 
who  obeyed  the  pope,  but  upon  his  injured  wife,  whom  he 
removed  from  the  convent  to  a  castle,  and  there  put  her  in 
confinement.  But  the  papal  authority  was  then  in  full 
power :  and  on  this  occasion  Philip  had  to  resist  something 
more  formidable  than  its  system  of  usurpation  and  its 
imperious  violence, — he  had  to  contend  against  its  moral 
strength. 

This  he  thought  to  overcome  by  fear :  the  people,  deeply 
as  in  their  hearts  they  resented  the  wrongs  of  a  woman,  had 
no  voice ;  and  when,  at  his  demand,  the  cause  was  reheard 
at  Soissons,  though  the  falsehood  of  his  plea  had  before  been 
proved,  he  had  secured  the  advocates  (forlngeborg  had  none 
to  act  for  her),  and  he  looked  again  for  a  favourable  sen- 
tence from  an  assembly  in  which  it  was  his  intention  that 
only  one  side  should  be  heard.  His  orators  spake  with  that 
zeal  and  ability  which  are  too  often  professionally  displayed 
in  causes  that  are  manifestly  unjust :  they  were  heard  with 
the  utmost  attention,  and,  as  it  appeared,  with  assent ;  the 
same  motives  of  hope  and  fear,  which  in  the  first  assembly 
liad  kept  "  the  dogs  dumb,"  operated  now  also  with  equal 
force ;  and  the  king  himself  was  present  to  see  who  were 
his  friends,  and  to  support  by  his  presence  his  own  suit. 
When  the  pleadings  on  his  part  were  ended,  there  was  no 
one  to  appear  for  queen  Ingeborg.  Proclamation  was  made 
that  if  any  one  were  there  to  speak  in  her  behalf  he  rmist 
now  come  forward  :  it  was  made  a  second  time  ;  and,  as  no 
one  answered  it,  a  third.  But  then  a  young  man,  whom  no 
one  knew,  advanced  from  the  crowd,  and  with  great  modesty 
requested  a  hearing.  He  spake  on  the  queen's  behalf  with 
extraordinary  eloquence,  and  with  equal  address,  taking  es- 
pecial care  to  say  nothing  that  could  exasperate  the  king, 
but  treating  him  with  a  degree  of  mildness  and  reverence, 
the  effect  of  which  was  perceptible  upon  him  and  upon  the 
whole  assembly.  As  soon  as  his  speech  was  finished  he 
withdrew ;  nor  was  it  ever  discovered  who  he  was.  Philip's 
aversion  for  his  wife  had  been  ascribed  to  witchcraft,  and  to 
the  instigation  of  the  devil :  there  were  some  who  supposed 
this  unknown  youth  to  be  an  angel  sent  to  plead  the  cause  of 
the  oppressed ;  though  there  were  others  who  gave  the  Danes 
credit  for  having  found  a  most  noble  agent,  and  managing  their 
cause  with  singular  dexterity,    Philip  was  so  visibly  moved 


164  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

by  the  speech  itself,  and  by  the  manner  in  which  he  saw  it 
was  received  by  all  present,  that  the  court  believed  he  would 
of  his  own  accord  take  Ingeborg  back ;  and,  in  that  persua- 
sion, they  abstained  from  pronouncing  sentence,  that  he 
might  do  it  with  the  better  grace,  as  of  his  own  free  will. 
But,  shaken  as  he  was,  he  preferred  his  Bohemian  wife,  and 
would  not  part  with  her.  After  as  long  an  interval  as  could 
decently  be  allowed,  the  legate  again  convened  the  court ; 
and  by  this  time  it  was  evident  that  the  public  feeling* 
would  support  him  in  a  sentence  against  the  king.  Philip 
saw  that  the  legate  knew  this  :  he  felt  it  himself;  and  leav- 
ing the  court  abruptly,  he  rode  to  the  castle  where  Inge- 
.„„.  ■  borg  was  then  confined,  and,  taking  her  from  thence, 
■  sent  word  to  the  legate  that  he  had  taken  home  his 
wife.  But  this  was  only  a  feigned  submission :  Ingeborg 
was  indeed  acknowledged,  and  publicly  treated  as  queen, 
while  he  continued  to  live  with  Maria  as  his  wife,  though 
not  as  the  partner  of  his  throne.  But  Ingeborg  made  no  com- 
191^  plaint;  the  legate,  satisfied  with  this  formal  obedi- 
*  ence,  interfered  no  farther ;  and  it  was  not  till  long 
after  her  rival's  death,  and  twelve  years|  after  the  recogni- 
tion of  her  rights,  that  yielding  either  to  public  opinion,  or 
to  a  late  sense  of  duty,  he  received  her  as  her  husband,  to 
the  great  joy  of  the  nation. 

Such  is  the  historj'  of  a  marriage  contracted  because  the 
king  of  France  wanted  to  revive,  in  his  own  person,  the  old 
claims  of  Denmark  to  the  throne  of  England,  and  to  support 
them  by  a  Danish  fleet.  Meantime  he  derived  a  traitorous 
assistance  from  some  of  those  Englishmen  in  whom  the 
love  of  gain  prevailed  over  all  other  considerations.  Cceur 
^-inn  de  Lion,  after  his  deliverance,  when  engaged  in  war 
against  him  in  Normandy,  discovered  that  English 
ships  came  to  St.  Valery  with  stores,  which  were  there  pur- 
chased for  Philip's  army.  Summary  and  indiscriminaling 
punishment  was  inflicted  for  this  treason  :   he  rode  to  St. 


*  "Jam  liberior  dolor  voxque  bominum,  etraagis  apertiis  sensus  erat,  et 
prsB  se  ferebaiit  patresquidnam  ipsis  necesse  foret  decenere." — Paulus  JEmi- 
lius,  p.  303.    Basil.  1560. 

t  Rigordus,  201.  211.  The  true  con(^lusion  of  the  story  appears  in  this 
writer  alone.  Bzovius  and  Pontanus  follow  Paulus  iKrnilius,  in  represent- 
ing the  apparent  reconciliation  as  complete.  AndDe  Serres  makes  the  ca- 
tastrophe immediately  follow  the  young  advocate's  speech  :  in  his  narra- 
tive—" Philippe,  sans  s'arroter  en  son  palais,  nionte  a  cheval,  et  va  in- 
continent au  Bois  de  Vincennes,  ou  il  avoit  confine  Gelberge ;  et  I'ayant 
caress^e  le  recent  en  sa  bonne  griice,  et  pass6  avec  elle  en  amitiii  conjugate 
le  reste  deses  jours."  (torn.  i.  385.)  Thus,  like  a  novel  writer  or  a  dramatist, 
he  passes  over  an  interval  of  twelve  years. 


FRIAR  bacon's  BRAZEN  HEAD.  165 

Valery,  seized  the  stores,  and  distributed  them  among  his 
own  soldiers ;  burnt  the  ships  which  were  found  in  the  har- 
bour, hung  the  sailors,  and  set  fire  to  the  town.* 


CHAP.   IV. 

FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  KING  JOHN  TO  THE  BATTLE 

OF  SLUYS. 

A.  D.  1199—1340. 

There  is  an  old  romantic  story,  once  popular,  and  not  yet 
entirely  out  of  remembrance  among  the  people,  that  friar 
Bacon,  and  his  friend  and  fellow  magician  friar  Bungay, 
spent  five  years  in  making  a  brazen  head,  for  the  purpose  of 
learning  from  it  in  what  manner  all  England  might  be 
secured  by  walling  it  round :  a  wall,  it  seems,  they  had 
concluded  on,  but  concerning  the  mode  of  construction,  and 
the  materials,  they  required  supernatural  advice ;  and,  per- 
haps, they  wanted  to  know  the  spell  which  might  render  it 
impregnable.  When  their  elaborate  work  was  completed, 
the  head  spake  and  told  them ;  but  not  expecting  it  to  speak 
so  soon,  they  were  not  attending  when  it  broke  its  brazen 
silence,  and  thus,  losing  the  first  part  of  its  speech,  they 
could  not  understand  the  rest. 

The  kings  of  England  who  were  contemporary  with  friar 
Bacon,  though  they  had  neither  heard  of  the  Grecian  oracle, 
nor  the  Athenian  interpretation  of  it,  relied  upon  their  wood- 
en walls.  They  looked  upon  ships,  not  only  as  a  means  of 
necessary  defence,  but  of  dominion  and  power.  They  had 
no  navy :  a  standing  fleet  was  as  little  known  as  a  standing 
army;  but  the  same  feudal  principle  upon  which  armies 
were  brought  into  the  field  was  applied  to  the  sea  service ; 
the  Cinque  Ports,f  and  other  maritime  towns, — and,  proba- 
bly, some  inland  ones  also, — holding  their  charters  by  this 
tenure.  The  Cinque  Ports  were  bound  to  provide  among 
them  fifty-two  ships,  and  twenty-four  men  in  each,  for  fifteen 
days,  and  to  defend  the  coasts  whenever  they  were  required ; 
and,  upon  extraordinary  occasions,  the  old  impost  of  danegelt 
was  levied,  as  ship-money.  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  when 
he  spread  the  renown  of  the  English  name  throughout  the 
Levant,  had  shown  that  England  was  a  great  maritime  pow- 
er;  and  John,  who  succeeded  him,  miscreant  though  he 

*  Holinshed,  ii.  363.  t  Lyttelton,  iii.  71. 


166  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

was,  had  the  merit  of  perceiving  the  true  interests  of  the  na- 
tion in  this  respect,  and  upholding  its  character  with  its 
strength.  At  whatever  time  the  sovereignty  of  the  seas  may 
have  been  first  assumed,  John  asserted  and  mzdntained  it. 
1200  •'^^'"^y  i"  his  reign,  dishonourable  in  every  way  but 
this,  he  enacted,  with  the  assent  of  his  barons,  that 
any  ships  of  other  nations,  though  at  peace  and  in  amity 
with  England,  should  be  made  lawful  prizes,  if  they  refused 
to  strike  to  the  royal  flag;*  and,  if  they  resisted,  the  crews 
were  to  be  punished  with  imprisonment  at  discretion.  The 
claim  was  certainly  not  new ;  it  was  asserted  because  he 
was  strong  enough  to  enforce  it.  The  only  maritime  powers 
by  whom  it  could  at  that  time  have  been  resisted  were  those 
of  the  Mediterranean,  who  were  too  distant  to  regard,  or, 
perhaps,  to  know  that  it  had  been  made. 

A  remarkable  circumstance  is  recorded  as  having  happen- 
ed in  the  early  part  of  this  king's  reign,  or  in  the  latter  years 
of  his  father's.  Some  fishermen  of  Orford  caught  in  their 
nets  what  the  chroniclers  call  a  fish,  but  which  they  describe 
as  "  resembling  in  shape  a  wild  or  savage  man :  he  was 
naked,  and  in  all  his  limbs  and  members  resembling  the 
right  proportion  of  a  man :  he  had  hairs  also  on  the  usual 
parts  of  his  body,  albeit  that  the  crown  of  his  head  was 
bald ;  his  beard  was  long  and  rugged,  and  his  breast  hairy." 
The  fishermen  presented  him  to  sir  Bartholomew  de  Glan- 
ville,  who  had  then  the  keeping  of  Orford  Castle.  When 
meat  was  set  before  him,  he  greedily  devoured  it;  and  he 
ate  fish,  whether  raw  or  boiled,  only  pressing  in  his  hands 
those  that  were  raw,  till  he  had  squeezed  out  the  moisture. 
"  He  would  get  him  to  his  couch  at  the  setting  of  the  sun, 
and  rise  again  at  the  rising  of  the  same.  He  would  not,  or 
could  not,  utter  any  speech ;  although,  to  try  him,  they  hung 
him  up  by  the  heels,  and  miserably  tormented  him."  His 
after-usage  must  have  been  exceedingly  kind,  and  he  must 
have  been  of  a  most  forgiving  temper  not  to  resent  this 
cruelty ;  for  it  seems  that  he  was  well  reconciled  to  living 
ashore.  One  day  they  took  him  to  the  haven,  and,  enclosing 
a  part  of  it  with  their  strong  nets,  to  prevent,  as  they  thought, 
his  escape,  they  let  him  take  the  water  for  his  diversion. 
He  presently  dived  under  the  nets,  rose  beyond  them,  sport- 

*  "  Pour  lour  rebellette."  The  ordinance  is  given  from  a  MS.  of  sir 
John  Burroughs  iix  the  Museum, by  Mr.  Bree,  in  the  Preface  to  his  "Cursory 
Sketch  of  our  Naval,  Military,  and  Civil  Establishments,"  &c.,  during  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  first  volume,  being,  I  believe,  all  that  was  pub- 
lished, relates  exclusively  to  naval  affairs.  It  is  the  crude  compilation  of  a 
distressed  man ;  but  made  from  original  documents,  and  contains  much 
curious  information. 


INTENDED  INVASION  OF  NORMANDY.  167 

ed  about  as  if  mocking  at  his  keepers,  and  then,  of  his  own 
accord,  returned  to  them,  and  remained  tlieir  guest  about  two 
months  longer;  then,  being  weary  of  a  land  life,  he  took  an 
-opportimity  of  stealing  to  sea.*  Strange  as  this  story  is, 
and  incredible  as  it  will  be  deemed  by  most  readers,  it  is  in- 
serted here,  because  there  is  complete  evidence  that  a  simi- 
lar circumstance  occurred  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  on  the  coast  of  Spain,  with  this  remarkable  differ- 
ence, that  the  man  who  had  there  chosen  an  aquatic  life, 
was  recognised,  and  the  history  of  his  disappearance  known 
at  the  place  where  he  was  supposed  to  have  been  drowned 
in  bathing:  he  was  carried  back  to  his  mother's  house, 
remained  there  nine  years,  and  then  took  again  to  the 
water.  I 

Amid  all  his  disputes  with  the  pope  and  with  his  .^nr 
barons,  John  nevei^neglected  his  naval  concerns,  and,  ^'^^'^' 
unpopular  as  he  was  with  other  classes,  never  lost  the  good 
will  of  the  seamen.  In  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign,  with 
the  advice  of  his  council,  he  prepared  for  attempting  to  re- 
cover Normandy,  of  which  Philip  Augustus  had  possessed 
himself:  a  strong  national  feeling  was  manifested  in  favour 
of  this  just  enterprise;  the  barons  vied  with  each  other  in 
their  preparations;  and  so  large  a  fleet  was  collected  at 
Portsmouth,  that  it  was  believed  so  many  ships  had  never 
been  brought  together  before :  the  number  of  mariners  on 
board  is  stated  at  14,000,  who  had  come  from  all  parts  of 
the  kingdom  to  serve  their  country.  But  when  all  things 
were  ready,  and  all  in  heart  and  hope,  the  archbishop  Hubert 
and  the  earl  of  Pembroke,  for  reasons  which  have  not  been 
explained,  compelled,  rather  tliat  persuaded,  him  to  abandon 
his  intention.  Bitter  curses  were  breathed  by  the  sailors 
against  the  evil  counsellors,  as  they  deemed  them,  who  had 
frustrated  this  mighty  preparation ;  and  John  himself  was 
"  pinched  so  near  the  heart,"  by  the  disgrace  and  disappoint- 
ment, that,  having  got  to  Winchester,  he  repented  him  of 
having  yielded,  turned  back  to  Portsmouth,  embarked,  sailed 
out  of  the  harbour;  and  for  two  days  kept  hovering  off,  in 
hopes  that  the  troops  which  had  been  dismissed  would, 
when  they  heard  this,  follow  his  example ;  but  it  was  too 
late. 


*  Holtnsbed,  ii.  294.  Fabyan  (315.)  says  he  was  kept  six  months  upon 
land ;  and  then,  because  "  they  could  have  no  speech  of  it,  they  cast  it  into 
the  sea  again." 

t  The  story  is  in  Feyjoo's  Theatro  Critico,  torn.  iii.  disc.  8.;  where  it  ta 
related  with  such  circumstantial  proof,  that  he  who  disbelieves  it  can  have 
DO  other  standard  of  belief  than  his  own  will  and  pleasure. 


168  NAVAL  HISTORY   OF  F-NOLAXn. 

-.ntn  An  effort  was  made  with  more  effect  when  Philip 
'  Augustus,  under  the  pope's  sanction,  prepared,  as  the 
champion  of  the  papal  church,  to  invade  England,  and  de- 
pose an  excommunicated  king.  Philip  had  long  been  pro- 
vided for  such  an  enterprise ;  little  caring  under  what  pretext 
he  might  undertake  it.     The  possession  of  Normandy  had 

fiven  him  more  ships  and  seamen  than  any  former  king  of 
'ranee  had  ever  commanded ;  and,  collecting  them  uom. 
other  ports,  wherever  they  were  to  be  obtained,  he  had 
brought  together,  in  the  three  harbours  of  Boulogne,  Calais, 
and  Gravelines,  not  less  than  1700  vessels.*  His  army,  too, 
was  most  formidable  in  number.  Distracted  as  England  was 
with  internal  troubles,  greater  vigour  was  never  shown  in 
its  counsels  than  at  this  time.  An  embargo  had  been  laid 
upon  all  ships  capable  of  carrying  six  or  more  horses :  in 
whatever  ports  they  mi^ht  be  found,  they  Were,  if  laden,  to  be 
unladed,  and  sent  round  to  Portsmouth,  well  provided  with 
good  seamen,  and  well-armed  ;  and  the  bailiffs  of  the  respect- 
ive ports  were  to  see  that  they  were  properly  furnished  with 
moveable  platformsf  for  embarking  and  disembarking  the 
horses.  The  fleet  which  he  assembled  is  said  to  have  been 
far  stronger  than  the  French  king's  ;:j:  but  this  probably 
means  in  the  size  and  equipment  of  the  ships,  and  in  the 
skill  of  the  sailors,  not  in  numbers.  And  "  he  had  got  to- 
gether such  an  army  of  men  out  of  all  the  parts  of  his  realm, 
— ^both  of  lords,  knights,  gentlemen,  yeomen,  and  other  of 
the  commons, — that  notwithstanding  all  the  provision  of  vic- 
tuals that  might  possibly  be  recovered,  there  could  not  be 
found  sufl[icient  store  to  sustain  the  huge  multitudes  of  those 
that  were  gathered  along  the  shore."  A  great  number  of  the 
commons,  therefore,  were  discharged,  and  sent  home,  retain- 
ing only  the  men-at-arms,  yeomen,  and  freeholders,  with 
the  cross-bowmen  or  arbalisters,  and  archers.  Even  after 
this  reduction,  60,000  men  were  assembled  on  Barham 
Downs ;  so  that  the  chronicler  might  well  say,  "  If  they  had 
been  all  of  one  mind,  and  well  bent  towards  the  service  of 
their  king  and  defence  of  their  country,  there  had  not  been 
a  prince  in  Christendom  but  that  they  might  have  been  able 
to  have  defended  the  realm  of  England  against  him."  The 
land  preparations  were  rendered  unnecessary  by  John's  sub- 
mission to  the  legate,  Pandulph  ;  when  he  surrendered  his 

*  RigorduB,  212.    Sueyro,  Anales  de  Flandes,  i.  260. 

t  "  Pontibus  et  cleiis  (Rymer's  Foedera,  i.  117.  last  edition.)  The  use  of 
the  latter  word,  in  this  place,  shows  that  it  was  not  erroneously  written  in 
another  document  for  clivis,  as  Ducange  supposed. 

}  Holinshed,  ii.  30o. 


FRENCH  FLEET  AT  DAMME.  169 

crown,  and,  receiving  it  again  from  him,  as  the  pope's  repre- 
sentative, swore  fealty  to  the  church  of  Rome,  and  bound  his 
kingdom,  by  a  written  instrument,  to  an  annual  payment  of 
1000  marks  for  ever,  in  token  of  vassalage. 

In  those  days  this  was  not  regarded  as  so  unworthy  an  act 
as  it  is  properly  now  considered  ;  nor  was  it  in  fear  of  the 
foreign  enemy  that  John  had  consented  to  it.  Base  as  he  was, 
he  was  of  a  race  that  never  failed  in  courage.  When  Philip 
Augustus  was  informed,  by  the  legate,  that  the  king  of  Eng- 
land had  submitted,  and  that,  consequently,  his  aid  was  no 
longer  required,  for  reducing  the  disobedient  son  of  the 
church,  he  was  exceedingly  indignant ;  and  his  first  impulse 
was  to  go  forward  with  the  enterprise,  in  defiance  of  the 
pope.  All  his  nobles  and  feudatory  chiefs  concurred  in  this, 
except  the  earls  of  Boulogne  and  Flanders,  whom  a  reasona- 
ble jealousy  of  Philip  had  induced  to  treat  secretly  with 
John.  Their  opposition  frustrated  his  design,  and  he  imme- 
diately turned  his  arms  upon  Flanders.  Fernando  de  Portugal, 
son  of  king  Sanchol.,  was  then  earl  of  Flanders,  in  right  of 
Joanna  his  wife, — a  man  more  brave  than  fortunate  ; — the 
name,  indeed,  in  his  family,  seems  to  have  carried  misfortune 
with  it.  Philip  had  extorted  from  him,  on  his  marriage,  the 
towns  of  Aire  and  St.  Omer,  and  the  sense  of  the  wrong  then 
done  him  was  rankling  in  his  mind.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
had  not  acted  now  as  an  open  enemy ;  and  Philip,  in  the  tem- 
per of  one  who  was  punishing  a  vassal  for  his  breach  of  faith, 
besieged  and  with  little  opposition  took  Calais,  took  posses- 
sion of  Ypres  and  Bruges,  and  then  laid  siege  to  Ghent ;  send- 
ing his  fleet,  meantime,  to  Damme.  Fernando  sent  over  to  Eng- 
land for  immediate  aid  ;  and  John  forthwith  despatched  500 
sail,  under  William  earl  of  Holland,  William  Longspear  earl  of 
Salisbury,  his  own  bastard  brother,  and  the  earl  of  Boulogne. 

Damme,  which  was  now  to  be  the  scene  of  the  first  great 
naval  action  between  the  English  and  French,  and  the  first 
great  naval  victory  recorded  in  the  English  annals,  was  at 
that  time  the  port  of  Bruges,  from  whence  it  is  about  a  mile 
distant,  being  situated  near  the  junction  of  the  rivers  Rey 
and  Lieve.  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  settlement  of  the 
Alans,  and  that  the  dog,  in  the  arms  of  the  town,  and  of 
which  a  fabulous  story  has  been  invented,  refers  to  this 
origin.  Then,  and  long  afterwards,  the  sea  came  up  to  its 
walls  ;  till,  about  the  year  1180,  the  Hollanders,  with  their 
characteristic  and  admirable  industry,  recovered  here  a  track 
of  rich  country  from  the  waters ;  and  it  was  from  the  dam 
which  they  constructed  for  its  defence,  and  which  extends 
from  thence  to  Sluys,  that  the  town  took  its  name.     A  chan- 

VOL.  1.  P 


170  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

nel  for  the  waters  was  made,  at  the  same  time,  two  miles  in 
length,  forming  what,  for  the  vessels  of  that  age,  was  a 
capacious  harhour.  The  Hollanders,  by  whom  this  great 
work  was  planned  and  executed,  settled  there  as  a  colony, 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  Flanders,  from  the  earls  of  which 
province  they  obtained,  in  addition  to  the  common  privi- 
leges of  Flemish  subjects,  an  exemption  from  customs 
throughout  the  Flemish  territory.  In  the  course  of  little 
more  than  thirty  years  Damme  had  become  the  great  em- 
porium of  those  parts.  No  other  part  of  Europe  had  ad- 
vanced so  rapidly  in  civilization  as  this  province.  In  the 
eighth  century  it  was  mostly  covered  with  wood  ;  and  so  in- 
famous for  the  robberies  and  murders  committed  upon  those 
whose  ill  fortune  led  them  thither,  that  it  was  called  the 
Merciless  Forest;*  in  the  ninth,  when  the  growing  influence 
of  religion  had  mitigated  this  barbarity,  lands  were  given  to 
any  who  would  settle  on  them  ;f  and  in  the  tenth,  when  the 
manufactures  to  which  it  owed  its  early  prosperity,  and  its 
after-troubles,  were  introduced  into  Ghent,  "  a  rate  of  barter 
was  fixed,  for  want  of  money."  By  this  rate  two  fowls  went 
for  one  goose,  two  geese  for  one  pig,  three  lambs  for  a  sheep, 
and  three  calves  for  a  cow.:|:  In  a  little  time  the  province 
was  intersected  with  canals,  and  towns  and  cities  arose  and 
flourished  ;  many  of  which,  though  fallen  to  decay,  bear 
witness  still,  in  the  splendour  of  their  public  buildings,  to 
their  former  affluence.  Ghent  was  now  the  seat  of  its  manu- 
factures, Bruges  of  its  merchants,  and  Damme  was  its  port ; 
whither,  as  to  a  certain  mart,  the  produce  of  the  country,  the 
furs  of  Hungar}',  the  wines  of  Gascony  and  Rochelle,  and 
the  cloths  of  England,  were  brought,  and  from  whence  they 
were  distributed  to  all  parts. § 

When  the  French  arrived  oflf  this  harbour,  they  ofiered 
peace  to  the  inhabitants,  who  were  wholly  incapable  of 
defending  themselves  against  such  a  force :  they  obtained 
the  money  which  they  demanded  as  its  price,  and  then  they 
plundered  the   place.||     Not  satisfied  with  this,  they  pro- 

*  Sueyro,  i.  21.  t  tbid.  i.  24.  J  Ibid.  i.  54. 

§  Lud.  Guicciardini,  Belgii  Desc.  ,397.  Jac.  Marchantii  Flandria,  p.  53 
Banderi  Flandria  Illustrata,  torn.  ii.203. 

(This,  with  other  curious  particulars  concerning  the  trade  of  the  place, 
we  learn  from  Brito's  honest  verses.  He  calls  the  French  commander  Sava  - 
ricus  ;  Sueyro  calls  him  Savary,  which  is,  doubtless,  the  real  name;  and 
Sanders  is  mistaken  in  naming  him  Auriacus. 

"  Opescunctise  partibus  orbis 

Navigio  advectas  supra  spem  repperit  omnem ; 
Infecti  argenti  massas  rubeique  metalli, 
Stamina  Phoenicumrerum  et  cladumque  labores, 
El  quas  hue  mittit  varias  Hungaria  pelles, 


BATTLE  OF  DAMME.  171 

ceeded  to  ravage  the  country  round  about;  and  the  sailors, 
as  well  as  land  forces,  were  thus  employed  when  the  Eng- 
lish fleet,  cruising  in  search  of  their  enemy,  approached. 
The  English,  as  they  neared  the  coast,  espied  many  ships 
lying  without  the  haven,  which  capacious  as  it  was,  was  not 
large  enough  to  contain  them  all ;  many,  therefore,  were  riding 
at  anchor  without  the  haven's  mouth,  and  along  the  coast. 
Shallops  were  presently  sent  out  to  espy  whether  they  were 
friends  or  enemies  ;  and  if  enemies,  what  their  strength,  and 
in  what  order  they  lay.  These  espiftls,  approaching  as  if  they 
had  been  fishermen,  came  near  enough  to  ascertain  that  the 
sliips  were  left  without  sufficient  hands  to  defend  them  ;  and, 
hastening  back,  told  the  commanders  that  the  victory  was  in 
their  hands,  if  they  would  only  make  good  speed.  No  time 
was  lost :  they  made  sail  toward  the  enemy,  and  won  the 
"  tall  ships"  which  were  riding  at  anchor  with  little  diffi- 
culty, the  men  on  board  only  requesting  that  their  lives  might 
be  spared.  The  smaller  ones,  which  were  left  dry  when  the 
tide  was  low,  they  spoiled  of  whatever  was  useful,  and  set 
on  fire,  the  sailors  escaping  to  the  shore.  This  done,  they 
set  upon  those  that  lay  in  harbour,  within  the  haven ;  and 
"  here  was  hard  hold  for  a  while,"  because  of  the  narrow- 
ness of  the  place,  allowing  no  advantage  for  numbers  or 
for  skill.  "  And  those  Frenchmen,"  says  the  chronicler, 
"  that  were  gone  abroad  into  the  country,  perceiving  that  the 
enemies  were  come,  by  the  running  away  of  the  mariners, 
returned  with  all  speed  to  their  ships  to  aid  their  fellows, 
and  so  made  valiant  resistance  for  a  time  ;'  till  the  English- 
men, getting  on  land,  and  ranging  themselves  on  either  side 
of  the  haven,  beat  the  Frenchmen  so  on  the  sides,  and,  the 
ships  grappling  together,  in  front,  that  they  fought  as  it  had 
been  in  a  pitched  field,  till  that,  finally,  the  Frenchmen  were 
not  able  to  sustain  the  force  of  the  Englishmen,  but  were 
constrained,  after  long  fight  and  great  slaughter,  to  yield 
themselves  prisoners." 

Granaqtie  vera  quibusgaudet  Equalata  rubcre  : 

Cum  ratibus  vino  plcniii  Vascoiiia  quale 

Vel  Rupella  paril ;  cum  ferro  cuiikiuc  metallis  ; 

Cum  pannis  rebus<|ue  aliis  quas  Anglia,  vel  quas 

Flandria  contulerat  illuc,  mittantur  ut  inde 

In  varias  partes  mundi,  dominisquc  reportent 

Lucra  suIb,  qiiibus  est  spcs  semper  mixta  timori 

Sorte  comes  dubia,  subitiquc  angustia  casus  : 

Omnia  (pnc  pyrata  rapax  Savaricusetejus 

Dira  cohors  inidem  sibi  concinnata  Cadoco, 

Indigents  contra  percussie  fa;dera  pacis, 

Diripuere  sibi,  sociis  juvantibus  ipsos, 

Non  veriti  violare  (idem  pactumque  negare, 

Quas  nostril!  peccata  rcor  nocucre  caTinis."—PMlippidot,  lib.  viii. 


172  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

The  first  act  of  the  conquerors  was  to  give  thanks  to  God 
for  their  victory.  They  then  manned  three  hundred  of  the 
prizes,  which  were  laden  with  com,  wine,  oil,  and  other 
provisions,  and  with  military  stores,  and  sent  them  to  Eng- 
land ;  the  first  fruits  of  that  mjuritime  superiority  for  which 
the  church  bells  of  this  glorious  island  have  so  often  pealed 
with  joy.  An  hundred  more  were  burnt,  because  they  were 
drawn  up  so  far  upon  the  sands,  that  they  could  not  be  got 
out,  without  more  hands  and  cost  of  time  than  could  be 
spared  for  them.  There  still  remained  a  great  part  of  the 
enemy's  fleet,  higher  up  the  harbour,  and  protected  by  the 
town,  in  which  Philip  had  left  a  sufficient  force  to  protect  the 
stores  which  he  had  left  there,  and  the  money  for  the  pay- 
ment of  his  troops.*  The  English  landed  ;  the  earl  of  Flan- 
ders joined  them,  and  they  proceeded  to  attack  the  place; 
but  by  this  there  had  been  sufficient  time  for  the  French 
king  to  hasten,  with  an  overpowering  force,  from  the  siege 
of  Ghent.  The  English  and  their  allies  sustained  a  sharp 
action,  and  were  compelled  to  retreat  to  their  ships,  with  a 
loss,  computed  by  the  French  at  2000  men.  But  they  re- 
treated no  farther  than  to  the  near  shores  of  the  Isle  of 
Walcheren ;  and  Philip  saw  the  impossibility  of  saving  the 
remainder  of  his  fleet,  considering  the  unskilfulness  of  his 
own  seamen,  as  well  as  other  things.  He  set  fire  to  them, 
therefore,  himself,  that  they  might  not  fall  into  the  enemy's 
hands.  Such  weis  the  fate  of  that  great  naval  armament, 
which  is  said  to  be  the  first  French  fleet  mentioned  in  his- 
tory ;f  and,  as  if  the  unfortunate  town  of  Danune,  which 
he  had  promised  not  to  injure,  and  the  foreign  merchants  to 
whom  his  word  was  pledged,  had  not  suffered  enough  by 
the  previous  spoil,  he  set  the  place  on  fire  also,  and  it  was 
consumed  ;:|:.  and  he  wasted  the  country  round  with  fire. 

*  This  also  Brito  mentions  in  the  report  of  an  affrighted  messenger  to 
Philip:— 

"  Nee  Gulielmus  habet  pullua  ferrata  tueri 
Dolia  quo  possit,  qiis  plena  numismata  turgeut 
Quo  solet  ipse  tuis  numerare  stipendia  castris, 
Follici  dispensans  fiscalia  dona  fideli." — Philippidos,  lib.  viii. 
t  Charnock,  i.  311. 

t  Eigordus,  212.  Sanderus,  ii.  204.  Holinshed,  ii.  309,  310.  Sueyro,  i. 
262.  There  is  a  most  remarkable  inistatemcnt  of  these  facts  in  the  Chro- 
uicon  Turonense,  worthy  of  Bonaparte's  Monileur. — "  Curaque  rex  Fran- 
corum — multitudinem  navium  prsparasset,  armisque  aliis  necessariis  one- 
rasset,  quidam  missi  a  rege  Angliis  latenter  venientes,  fere  totam  illam 
multitudinem  navium  rapuerunt,  secumque  in  Angliam  perduierunt. 
(They  stole  the  fleet!)  Paucas  tamen  naves  quse  remanserunt  jussit  rex 
iratus  comburi,  sed  et  quamdam  villam  in  portu  sitam,  eo  quod  incolae  ir- 
ruentes  cognoverant  et  consenseiant  advenisse." — JdarUne  etDurand,  Coll, 
Jimp.  V.  104'J. 


John's  mercenaries  wrecked.  173 

The  troubles  with  which  England  was  continually  agitated 
during  John's  eventful  reign,  reduced  that  miserable  king,  in 
his  latter  years,  to  such  extremities,  that  he  was  fain  to  hide 
himself  in  the  Isle  of  Wight ;  and  while  his  agents  were 
employed,  some  in  soliciting  the  court  of  Rome  to  interfere 
in  his  behalf,  and  others  in  engaging  mercenaries  for  his 
service,  he  courted  the  favour  or  the  Cinque  Ports,  and  en- 
couraged them  to  make  prize  of  any  ships  which  were  sus- 
pected not  to  be  his  friends  ;*  so  that  his  enemies  had  some 
reason  for  representing  him  as  a  sea  rover.  The  pope 
espoused  his  cause,  and  mercenaries  came  at  his  invita- 
tion,!— chieftains  who  were  "  desperate  adventurers,  lead- 
ing an  execrable  sort  of  people,  whose  miserable  fortunes 
at  home  easily  drew  them  to  any  mischiefs  abroad."  One 
formidable  band  perished  by  shipwreck  between  Calais  and 
Dover,  with  their  commander  Hugh  de  Boues, — a  brave  but 
turbulent  Frenchman,  who  was  banished  from  his  own  .  g,  ^ 
country.  The  eastern  coast,  as  far  as  Yarmouth,  was 
strewn  with  their  bodies ;  and,  probabl)',  so  great  a  loss  of  life:}: 
was  never  occasioned  by  any  one  storm  before  or  since  in  those 
seas.  Ii  was  reported  that  the  whole  county  of  Norfolk  had 
been  assigned  by  the  king  to  these  allies,  and  that  the  na- 
tives were  to  have  been  punished  for  their  adherence  to  the 
barons,  by  expelling  them  to  make  room  for  the  new  settlers. 
Their  fate,  therefore,  was  regarded  by  the  nation  as  a  provi- 
dential deliverance,  seeing  that  they  must  "  needs  have 
lived  upon  the  country,  which  would  have  been  sore  oppress- 
ed by  such  multitudes  of  strangers,  even  to  the  utter  undo- 
ing of  the  inhabitants  wheresoever  they  should  have  come."§ 
John  regretted  it  at  the  time  as  a  great  misfortune;  but  he 
learned  afterwards  how  little  reliance  was  to  be  placed  upon 
men  of  this  stamp,  who  served  only  for  pay  and  for  plunder ; 
for  in  the  ensuing  year  most  of  his  hired  forces  left  him,|| 
and  not  a  few  entered  into  the  service  of  the  French  prince, 
Louis,  to  whom  his  factious  barons  had  traitorously  offered 
the  crown. 

The  death  of  this  king  was  a  happy  event  for  the  nation, 

*  llolinshed,  ii.  323. 

t  Saverier  de  Mauleon,  one  of  the  men  of  great  nobility,  nnd  right  worthy 
warriors  whocameout  of  parts  of  Poicton  aiidGascony  to  serve  him,  having 
under  them  great  numbers  of  good  soldiers  and  tall  men  of  war,  may  pro- 
bably be  the  same  person  who  commanded  rhiljp's  armament  and  plundered 
Damme. 

I  Matthew  Paris  states  their  numl>crs  at  40,000,  which  is  incredible ;  but 
the  force  must  have  been  numerous  which  could  have  led  to  such  an  exag- 
geration.   Holinshed,  325. 

§  Holinshed,  ii.  32S.  I  Ibid.  333. 

P 


174  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

though  he  left  a  child  of  nine  years'  old  to  succeed  him.  In 
most  of  the  barons  who  so  often  combined  against  him,  there 
had  been  far  more  of  personal  animosity  than  of  principle,— 
more,  perhaps,  even  than  of  personal  views.  But  a  child 
was  an  object  of  compassion ;  and  they  who  already  repent- 
ed of  having  called  in  a  foreign  enemy  were  no  longer  with- 
held by  hatred  or  by  shame  from  following  their  English 
feelings,  and  taking  the  better  part.  Louis's  tide  of  fortune 
began  to  ebb,  when  a  force  of  300  knights,  with  a  great  body 
of  soldiers,  embarked  at  Calais  for  his  support,  in  a  fleet 
consisting  of  eighty  great  ships  and  many  smaller  vessels, 
commanded  by  Eustace  the  monk.  This  man,  who  was  a 
Fleming  by  birth,  had  left  his  monastery  to  enjoy  a  patri- 
mony which  fell  to  him  by  the  death  of  his  brothers ;  that 
patrimony  he  appears  to  have  dissipated;  afterwards  "he 
became  a  notable  pirate,  and  had  done  in  his  days  much  mis- 
chief to  the  Englishmen."  The  English  government  re- 
ceived timely  intelligence  of  this  expected  succour  to  the 
enemy ;  and,  accordingly,  Philip  de  Albany  and  John  Mar- 
shal were  appointed  to  collect  the  power  of  the  Cinque  Ports, 
and  guard  the  seas  against  them.  With  the  aid  of  Hubert 
de  Burgh,  earl  of  Kent,  then  residing  in  the  castle  of  Dover, 
they  had  not  yet  mustered  more  than  forty  vessels,  great  and 
small,  on  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  when  the  French  sailed, 
meaning  to  go  up  the  Thames,  and  make  for  London.  Not 
deterred  by  the  inferiority  of  their  forces,  the  English  com- 
manders put  to  sea,  and  encountered  them ;  then  gained  the 
weather-gage,  and,  "  by  tilting  at  them  with  the  iron  beaks 
of  their  galleys,  sunk  several  of  the  transports  with  all  on 
board.  They  availed  themselves  of  the  wind  also  to  try, 
with  success,  a  new  and  sin^lar  mode  of  annoyance  :  for, 
having  provided  a  number  of  vessels  on  their  decks,  filled 
with  unslaked  lime,  and  pouring  water  into  them  when  tliey 
were  at  just  distance,  and  in  a  favourable  position,  the  smoke 
was  driven  into  the  enemies'  faces,"*  so  as  to  disable  them 
from  defending  themselves,  while  the  archers  and  cross-bow- 
men aimed  their  destructive  weapons  with  dreadful  effect. 
Eustace,  the  monk,  was  found,  after  long  search,  hid  in  the 
hold  of  one  of  the  captured  ships  :  he  offered  a  large  sum  for 

*  Charnock,  i.  332.  Campbell's  account  (i.  117.)  is,  that  they  laid  heaps 
of  lime  upon  the  deck,  whicli,  the  wind  blowing  fresh,  drove  in  the  faces  of 
their  enemies  and  in  a  manner  blinded  them.  Neither  of  the  writers  give 
their  authority,  and  Holinshed  mentions  no  such  stratagem.  I  have  read 
elsewhere  of  throwing  lime  in  this  manner.  In  one  ofCoeurde  Lion's  bai- 
lies in  Palestine,  the  Saracens,  when  closely  pressed,  took  advantage  of  the 
wind,  and,  occupying  some  bills  ofloose  sand,  stirred  it  about  like  dust,  and 
blinded  their  enemies. 


HUBERT  DE  BURGH.  175 

his  ransom,  so  he  mi^ht  have  his  life  spared,  and  offered  also 
to  enter  into  the  service  of  the  English  king;  but  as  he  had 
rendered  himself  singularly  odious,  Richard,  a  bastard  son 
of  king  John,  killed  him,  and  sent  his  head  to  young  Henry 
as  a  brotherly  offering,  and  as  a  proof  of  their  important  vic- 
tory. Louis  was  so  disheartened  by  this  reverse,  that  he  was 
glad  to  make  peace  upon  such  terms  as  were  proposed  to 
him  ;  and  receiving  15,000  marks  for  the  release  of  the  hos- 
tages whom  the  barons,  who  invited  him,  had  put  into  his 
hands,  he  gave  up  such  strongholds  as  were  in  his  posses- 
sion, and  returned  to  France. 

A  remarkable  instance  occurred  some  fifteen  years  after- 
wards of  the  feeling  with  which  the  people  regarded  this 
naval  victory,  that  in  its  immediate  consequences  had  deli- 
vered the  country  from  the  presence  of  a  foreign  foe.  In  the 
course  of  the  civil  commotions  by  which  the  reign  of  Henry 
III.  was  disturbed,  Hubert  de  Burgh  became  an  object  of 
persecution  to  the  then  prevailing  faction ;  and  being  forcibly 
taken  from  the  sanctuary,  in  which  he  had  sought  for  protec- 
tion, at  Brentwood,  a  smith  was  sent  for  to  make  fetters  for 
him.  But  when  the  smith  understood  that  it  was  for  Hubert, 
earl  of  Kent,  he  was  called  upon  to  perform  this  ignominious 
office,  he  refused  to  do  it,  uttering,  says  Speed,*  such  words 
(if  Matthew  Paris  do  not  poetise)  as  will  show  that  honoura- 
ble thoughts  are  sometimes  found  in  the  hearts  of  men  whose 
fortunes  are  far  from  honour.  For  having  first  drawn  a  deep 
sigh,  he  said,  "  Do  with  me  what  ye  please,  and  God  have 
mercy  on  my  soul ;  but  as  the  Lord  liveth,  I  will  never  make 
iron  shackles  for  him,  but  will  rather  die  the  worst  death  that 
is.  Is  not  this  that  Hubert  who  restored  England  to  Eng- 
land 1  He  who  faithfully  and  constantly  served  John  in 
Gascony,  Normandy,  and  elsewhere, — whose  high  courage, 
when  he  was  reduced  to  eat  horse-flesh,  even  the  enemy  ad- 
mired ]  He  who  so  long  defended  Dover  Castle,  the  key  of 
England,  against  all  the  strong  sieges  of  the  French,  and  by 
vanquishing  them  at  sea  brought  safety  to  the  kingdom  1 
God  be  judge  between  him  and  you  for  using  him  so  un- 
justly and  inhumanly !"  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  this 
man's  name  has  not  been  preserved  ;  none  of  his  contempo- 
raries deserved  a  more  honourable  remembrance.  It  was  at 
the  risk  of  his  life  that  he  thus  obeyed  the  impulse  of  an 
honest  heart ;  and  Hubert  must  have  felt  a  prouder  and  wor- 
thier gratification  at  this  brave  testimony  to  his  services  than 
the  largest  grant  could  ever  have  given  him,  with  which  he 
was  rewarded  in  the  days  of  his  prosperity. 

*  Page  517. 


176  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  EXGLAXD. 

The  next  maritime  event  that  our  chroniclers  have  record- 
ed is  of  a  more  extraordinary  nature, — a  great  battle  among 
the  fishes  of  the  sea,  on  the  coast  of  England,  "so  that 
there  were  eleven  whales  or  thirlepools  cast  on  land,  besides 
other  huge  and  monstrous  fishes,  which  appeared  to  be  dead 
of  some  hurts.  And  one  of  those  mighty  fishes,  coming  into 
the  Thames  alive,  was  pursued  by  the  fishers,  and  could 
scarce  pass  through  the  arches  of  London  bridge  ;  at  length, 
with  darts  and  other  such  weapons,  they  slew  him  before 
the  king's  manor  at  Mortlake."*  Our  ancestors  were  as 
careful  to  report  wonders  as  they  were  prone  to  magnify 
them  ;  but,  among  the  things  which  have  been  thus  record- 
ed, there  are  not  a  few  that,  having  long  been  discredited  in 
the  progress  of  incredulity,  the  progress  of  knowledge  has 
enabled  us  to  understand  and  believe.  Such  is  the  fact  re- 
corded thus,  by  Holinshed,f  in  his  chronicle  of  this  reign. 
.0=4  "  On  the  even  of  the  circumcision  of  our  Lord,  in  the 
night  season,  whilst  the  air  was  most  clear  and  bright, 
with  shining  stars,  the  moon  being  eight  days'  old,  there 
appeared  in  the  element  the  perfect  form  and  likeness  of  a 
mighty  great  ship ;  which  was  first  seen  of  certain  monks 
of  St.  Albans,  who,  remaining  at  St.  Amphibalus,  were  got 
up  to  behold  by  the  stars  if  it  were  time  for  them  to  go  to 
matins ;  but  perceiving  that  strange  sight,  they  called  up 
such  of  their  acquaintance  as  lodged  near  at  hand  to  view- 
the  same.  At  length  it  seemed  as  the  boards  and  joints 
thereof  had  gone  in  sunder,  and  so  it  vanished  away."  Sai- 
lors who  had  seen  or  heard  of  the  Flying  Dutchman  would 
at  no  time  have  questioned  the  truth  of  this  relation :  they 
who  have  studied  the  aerial  phenomena  of  optics  will  as 
readily  believe  it  now. 

About  the  same  time  certain  ships  were  "  driven  by  force 
of  wind  and  weather  into  certain  havens  on  the  north  coast 
of  England  towards  Berwick;  which  ships  were  of  a  very 
strange  form  and  fashion,  but  mighty  and  strong.  The  men 
that  were  aboard  were  of  some  far  country,  for  their  lan- 
guage was  unknown,  and  not  understandable  to  any  that 
could  be  brought  to  talk  with  them.  The  fraught  and  bal- 
last of  the  ships  was  armour  and  weapons,  as  habergeons, 
helmets,  spears,  bows,  arrows,  crossbows,  and  darts,  with 
great  stores  of  victuals.  There  lay,  also,  without  the  havens, 
on  the  coast,  diverse  other  ships  of  like  form,  mould,  and 
fashion.  Those  that  were  driven  into  the  havens  were  stayed 
for  a  time  by  the  bailiffs  of  the  ports ;  but,  finally,  when 

♦  Holjnshed,  i.  390.  '      f  Ibid.  ii.  430. 


ATTEMPT  TO  MURDER  HENRY  III.         177 

it  could  not  be  known  what  they  were,  nor  frona  whence 
they  came,  they  were  licensed  to  depart  without  loss  or 
harm  in  body  or  goods."*  It  is  not  easy  to  understand  by 
what  circumstance  ships  from  any  Finnish  or  Slavonic  porta 
could  have  been  blown  to  the  coast  of  Northumberland,  and 
still  less  credible  is  it  that  they  should  have  come  from  the 
White  Sea.  The  probable  solution  is,  that  the  ports  to 
which  the  strangers  were  driven  were  so  little  frequented, 
that  French  and  Flemish  were  the  only  foreign  languages 
in  any  degree  known  there,  and  perhaps  not  those.  Norway 
was  then  at  war  with  Denmark  ;  and  it  may  possibly  have 
been  a  Norwegian  fleet,  prepared  for  war,  but  evidently  with 
no  piratical  intention.  What  piracy  was  carried  on  at  that 
time  seems  to  have  been  by  Irish,  and  perhaps  Welsh  free- 
booters :  for  there  was  an  agreement  between  Henry  III.  and 
his  vassal  Olave,  king  of  Man  and  of  the  islands,  that  the 
vassal  king  was,  at  his  own  cost,  to  guard  the  English  and 
Irish  coasts  on  those  seas  against  all  hurtf  as  far  as  was  in 
his  power ;  for  which  service  he  was  to  receive  annually, 
from  Ireland,  forty  marks,  a  hundred  measures:^  of  wheat, 
and  five  barrels  of  wine.§ 

In  the  year  1238  an  attempt  was  made  to  murder  king 
Henry  III.  at  Woodstock  in  his  bed.  The  assassin,  who 
was  a  clerk,  Clement  by  name,  got  in  at  the  window  at 
midnight ;  and  as  the  king  happened  that  night  to  lie  in  an- 
other apartment,  he  sought  him  up  and  down  in  other  cham- 
bers, "  with  naked  knife  in  hand,"  till  he  was  seen  by  one 
of  the  queen's  gentlewomen,  who  was  sitting  late,  and  en- 
gaged devoutly  at  her  book,  by  candle-light.  Her  cries 
awakened  the  king's  servants,  and  the  criminal  was  appre- 
hended. There  could  be  no  doubt  of  his  intention;  and 
whether  his  apparent  madness  were  real  or  feigned,  he  was 
brought  to  trial  at  Coventry,  and  there  having,  upon  full  evi- 
dence, been  justly  condemned,  was  executed  with  abomin- 
able barbarity. II     At  his  death  he  declared  that  he  had  been 

♦  Holinshed,  ii.  431. 

t  "  Ne  datnpnum  prsdictisterris  noetris,— pro  posse  buo,  per  mare  in  coste- 
ris  itlis  possit  evenire." 

J  Crannocofi.  §  Rymer  (last  edition),  i.  218. 

11 "  And  worthily,"  says  Speed ;  "  for  as  a  vulgar  chronicler  hereupon  saitli 
truly,  in  wounding  and  killing  a  prince  the  traitor  is  guilty  of  homicide,  of 
parricide,  of  christicide,  nay,  of  deicide."  This  language  might  rather  have 
been  expected  from  some  old  attorney-general  than  from  Ralph  Holinshed  ; 
but  that  good  old  chronicler  wrote  at  a  time  when  Elizabeth's  life  was  in 
continual  danger  from  such  attempts.  "These  practices  of  treason,  in 
summo  grada,"  says  he,  "  which  cannot  be  committed  without  irrecoverable 
detriment  to  the  whole  estate  (especially  where  succession  is  uncertain), 
are  of  an  old  brewing,  though  they  never  be  so  newly  broached.    And 


178  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

suborned  to  the  attempt  by  William  de  Marisch,  whose  fa- 
ther Geoffrey  had  been  recently  disappointed  in  his  expecta- 
tions of  sharing  in  the  patrimony  of  Richard,  earl  of  Pem- 
broke, Strongbow's  representative,  when  that  powerful  earl 
marshal  had  been  slain  in  Irelapd.  Hearing  this,  William 
took  to  the  seas ;  and  taking  possession  of  Lundy  Is- 
land,*  "played  the  rover"  from  thence  as  from  a 
stronghold,  that  little  island  being  deemed  inexpugnable. 
He  continued  during  four  years  to  do  much  mischief  in  the 
neighbouring  seas ;  at  length  he  was  surprised  with  sixteen 
of  his  companions :  they  were  put  to  death  in  London  as 
pirates,  he  jis  a  traitor ;  but  at  his  death  he  utterly  denied 
that  he  had  ever  been  privy  to  the  attempted  murder  of  the 
king.f 

"Rie  French  had  lost  the  first  fleet  that  they  ever  fitted  out ; 
and  their  subsequent  efforts  at  sea  had  not  been  fortunate. 
But  the  possession  of  Normandy,  which,  by  favour  of  the 
troubles  in  England,  they  had  conquered  from  king  John, 
gave  them  ships  and  seamen ;  and,  during  the  turbulent 
reign  of  his  feeble  son,  they  acquired,  for  a  short  lime,  such 
a  superiority  over  the  naval  force  of  the  Cinque-ports,  the 
Bretons  and  the  Calais-men  joining  with  them,  that  the 
Cinque-ports  were  compelled  to  call  upon  the  government 
for  aid.|:  The  wardens  of  those  ports  had  adhered  faith- 
fully to  John  in  all  his  reverses ;  but  under  Henry  HI.  they 
took  the  adverse  part,  and  kept  the  sea,  that  no  stranger 
should  enter  the  land  to  aid  the  king  against  the  barons.§ 
John  had  requited  them  for  their  fidelity,  by  allowing  them 
to  make  prize  of  any  vessels  which  they  might  choose  to 
look  upon  as  enemies :  that  practice  they  continued  when 
they  changed  their  party,  and  "  robbed  and  spoiled  all  men 
that  they  might  take,  sparing  neither  English  merchants  or 

truly,  if  the  cursed  miscreant  which  undertaketh  an  enterprise  of  this 
quality  had  the  grace  to  consider  how  many  murders  he  coramitteth  by  im- 
plication, in  giving  the  royal  person  of  the  prince  a  deadly  wound,  I  doubt 
not,  if  he  were  a  man,  and  not  a  rank  devil,  he  would  be  weaned  from  that 
outrageous  villany.  And,  therefore,  a  thousand  woes  light  on  his  heart 
that  shall  stretch  out  his  hand,  nay,  that  shall  once  conceive  in  thought,  a 
murder  so  heinous." — ii.  ^5. 

*  It  has  just  at  this  time  been  stated  in  the  newspapers  (Nov.  1832),  that 
lieutenants  Denham  and  Robinson  have  recently  discovered  that  this  island 
possesses  a  good  roadstead,  where  a  considerable  fleet  might  ride  securely 
in  westerly  gales.  A  schoolfellow  of  mine  at  Bristol,  whose  father  fre- 
quently navigated  the  Bristol  Channel,  had  passed  some  days  upon  this 
island,  where  there  was  then  only  a  solitary  habitation  ;  and  I  well  remem- 
ber that,  when  listening  to  his  account  of  it  some  fifty  years  ago,  I  used  to 
look  upon  him  as  a  sort  of  Robinson  Crusoe. 

t  Holinshed,  ii.  385.  308.    Speed  5^.  J  Holinshed  ii.  393. 

§  Fabyan,  353. 


riRACY  FROM  THE  CINQUE-PORTS.  179 

Others ;"  and  the  common  fame  went,  that  the  barons  of  the 
land  had  good  part  of  the  gain  thus  made.*  Toward  the 
close  of  this  miserable  reign,  when,  tlirough  the  courage 
and  ability  of  his  son  prince  Edward,  the  kmg  had  gained 
the  ascendency  over  a  set  of  nobles  who  would  have  reduced 
the  government  to  a  condition  like  that  of  Poland,  some 
loyal  prisoners  in  Dover  Castle,  encouraged  by  the  tidings 
which  reached  them  in  their  captivity,  got  possession  of  a 
tower  within  the  castle-walls,  and  defended  themselves 
ag-ainst  their  keepers  till  the  king  and  prince  Edward  came 
to  their  deliverance.  The  garrison  were  then  glad  to  obtain 
honourable  conditions  for  themselves  ;  and  Edward  proceed- 
ed along  the  coast,  punishing  some  of  the  inhabitants  within 
the  precincts  of  the  Cinque-ports,  putting  others  in  fear,  and 
receiving  them  into  the  king's  peace.  Winchelsea  alone 
resisted  him ;  but  he  forced  the  town,  "  in  which  entry  much 
guilty  blood  was  spilt,"  though  the  multitude,  by  his  com- 
mand, were  spared.  Thus  were  the  seas  made  quiet ;  but 
this  was  not  effected  without  some  compromise,  and  a  con- 
dition to  which  so  able  a  prince  as  Edward  would  never 
have  consented  if  the  government  had  been  firmly  establish- 
ed. It  might  be  fitting  as  well  as  necessary  that  all  their 
former  privileges  should  be  confirmed  to  them,  because  those 
privileges  were  intended  not  merely  for  their  own  but  for  the 
public  good.  But  when  it  was  granted  "  that  if  any  man, 
English  or  other,  would  sue  for  restitution  of  goods  by  them 
before  taken,  or  for  the  death  of  any  of  their  friends  before 
sldn,"  all  such  complaints  should  be  sued  in  their  courts 
and  there  determined,  there  must  have  been  the  confidence  of 
strength  in  the  party  that  made  so  iniquitous  a  demand,  and 
the  consciousness  of  weakness  in  that  which  consent-  .  g^^ 
ed  to  it.  "  The  common  fame  at  that  day  ran,  that  the 
wardens  of  the  Cinque-ports  had  the  dominion  of  tlie  sea, 
wherefore  the  king  was  fain  to  follow  their  pleasure.'*-)- 
This  was  a  most  disgraceful  and  dangerous  example;  for 
they  had  seized  every  ship  they  met,  and  thrown  the  crews 
overboard,  English  and  foreigners  alike,  "murdering,"  says 

*  Fabyan,  35G.  An  agreement  between  tlioni  and  the  povornors  of  the 
realm  was  made  ilii.s  same  year,  during  the  king's  absence,  in  which  they 
took  ii|ion  themselves  to  guard  the  coaet  and  the  sea  against  the  king's  ene- 
mies :  the  governors  engaged  to  use  their  endeavours,  on  the  king's  return, 
for  prevailing  on  him  to  declare,  by  his  letter!^' patent,  that  this  should  in 
no  ways  prejudice  their  liberties ;  and  they  iKiund  themselves  not  to  offend 
against  the  king's  liege  subjects,  nor  any  who  had  his  safe  conduct.  (Rymer, 
i.  '250.)  This,  as  usual  in  factious  times,  was  armin;;  men  in  the  king's 
name  against  the  king's  cause. 

t  Fabyan,  3C1.     Holinshed,  ii.  469. 


180  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

a  contemporary,*  "  all  who  brought  necessary  commodities 
to  this  country,  without  distinction,  so  that  the  price  of  all 
imported  articles  was  grievously  enhanced,  the  people  greatly 
distressed  thereby,  and  the  merchants  ruined."  The  most 
perilous  lesson  that  has  ever  been  taught  to  sinful  man  is, 
that  strength  may  secure  impunity  in  this  world  for  any 
Avickedness. 

Even  in  this  reign,  when  national  interests  seemed  in  other 
things  to  be  little  regarded,  Henry  evinced  a  lively  concern 
for  the  maritime  strength  of  his  dominions.  He  had  given 
the  Isle  of  Oleron  as  an  appanage  to  his  son  prince  Edward, 
expressly,  however,  specifying  in  the  grant  that  it  was  not  to 
be  separated  from  the  crown.  Edward  thoughtlessly  made 
a  grant  of  it  to  his  uncle  Guy  de  Lusignan ;  but  the  king 
compelled  him  to  revoke  the  grant,  as  having  been  made 
without  consideration  of  this  prohibitorj'  condition ;  and  the 
islanders,  whose  old  and  tried  fidelity  was  highly  praised, 
were  instructed  not  to  admit  any  governor  unless  he  were 
sent  by  the  king  or  his  son.f 

The  Flemings,  who  were  then  the  most  industrious  of 
European  nations,  found  themselves  inconvenienced  by  the 
feudal  relations  of  their  earl  to  the  crown  of  France,  when 
that  kingdom  was  at  war  with  England;  for  in  that  case 
their  great  and  gainful  trade  with  this  country  was  inter- 
rupted. They  represented,  therefore,  to  the  English  govern- 
ment that  this  evil  ought  to  be  no  necessary  consequence  of 
any  dispute  between  England  and  France;  and  they  re- 
quested that,  for  the  benefit  of  both  parties,  the  Flemish 
merchants  might  be  allowed  to  carry  on  their  trade  as  usual, 
so  long  as  Flanders  itself  took  no  other  part  in  the  war  than 
1240  ^^'^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^'^^  called  upon  by  reason  of  his  ho- 
mage to  perform ;  and  to  this  reasonable  application 
England  reasonably  consented.:!:  In  later  times  the  Dutch 
are  said  to  have  carried  this  principle  so  far  as  to  have  sold 
gunpowder  to  the  people  with  whom  they  were  actually  en- 
gaged in  hostilities.  This,  which  may  be  deemed  magnani- 
mous or  mean  according  as  we  regard  the  act  or  the  motive, 
is  an  extreme  case;  but  certainly,  whatever  lessens  the 
amount  of  private  and  individual  evil  which  war  brings 
with  it  is  to  be  desired.  Let  us  hope  that  a  time  will  come 
when  trade  with  an  enemy's  country,  which  has  been  per- 
mitted under  the  system  of  licenses,  may  be  carried  on  by  a 
humane  and  just  agreement;  that  peace  or  war  may  in  this 

♦  Thoa.  Wykes,  quoted  by  Henry,  iv.  467. 

fRymer.i.  374.  378.404.  J  Marchanlius,232.    Sueyro,  i.  583. 


ACCESSION  OF  EDWARD  I.  181 

respect  make  no  difference  to  those  who  are  inoffensively 
pursuing  their  business  on  the  seas ;  and  that  the  capture  of 
a  merchant  ship  may  be  considered  to  be  as  little  consistent 
with  the  honourable  spirit  in  which  war  ought  ever  to  be 
conducted,  as  the  plunder  of  a  defenceless  town. 

The  resources  and  the  naval  strength  of  England  had 
suffered  so  much  during  Henry  III.'s  reign,  that  when  prince 
Edward,  after  he  had  restored  the  authority  of  the  crown, 
and  something  like  order  to  the  land,  embarked  witli  one  of 
his  brothers  for  the  holy  war,  the  force  with  which  he  sailed 
consisted  only  of  thirteen  ships,*  and  1000  men  :  but  he 
took  with  him  a  name  which  he  had  already  rendered  re- 
nowned ;  and  the  high  reputation  which  Richard  Coeur  de 
Lion  had  won  in  the  East  for  English  valour  was  not  di- 
minished by  his  conduct.  Some  danger  of  interruption  on 
the  seas,  which  at  that  time  could  have  been  from  no  foreign 
enemy,  was  apprehended,  when  on  his  return  after  his  father's 
death  he  was  about  to  cross  from  Gascony  ;  for  the  constable 
of  Dover  Castle,  as  warden  of  the  Cinque-ports,  was  written 
to,  to  provide  ships  and  galleys  for  the  king's  passage,  and 
was  instructed  secretly  to  apprize  the  king's  best  and  trustiest 
friends  in  those  ports,  that  they  should  cautiously  make  them- 
selves ready  for  this  service ;  and  the  constable  was  exhorted 
to  use  circumspection  as  well  as  diligence  in  this  matter,  j" 
His  return  was  celebrated  with  such  joy  as  had  been  in-ri 
felt  at  no  former  accession  ;  for  it  was  known  that  the 
crown  had  passed  from  a  weak  head  to  a  worthy  one,  the 
sceptre  from  a  feeble  to  a  vigorous  hand.  He  was  received 
in  London  "with  all  the  demonstrations  of  loyal  affection 
that  the  Londoners  could  devise,  or  that  his  own  heart  could 
have  desired.  The  streets  were  hung  with  rich  cloths  of 
silk,  arras,  and  tapestry :  the  aldermen  and  burgesses  of  the 
city  threw  out  of  their  windows  handfuls  of  gold  and  silver, 
to  signify  the  great  gladness  which  they  had  conceived  of 
his  safe  return  :  the  conduits  ran  plentifully  with  white  wine 
and  red,  that  every  one  might  drink  his  fill."  About  a  fort- 
night afterwards  he  and  his  queen  Eleanor  (one  of  the  best 
and  worthiest  with  whom  ever  king  was  blessed,  and  who 
had  the  rare  happiness  in  that  station  of  being  loved  as  she 
deserved)  were  crowned  in  Westminster  Abbey,  which  had 
been  almost  re-edified  by  his  father.  There  were  present  at 
the  ceremony  the  king  of  Scotland  and  the  earl  of  Britanny, 
with  their  wives,  who  were  sisters  to  king  Edward,  and  the 
queen-mother  donna  .luana,  widow  of  king  Ferdinand  of 

*  Campbell,  i.  121.  t  Rvnier,  i.  part  ii.  504. 

Vol.  I.  Q 


182  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

Castile;  and  at  this  coronation  500  great  horses  were,  with 
a  sort  of  barbarous  magnificence,  turned  loose  among  the 
crowd  for  any  who  could  catch  them,  by  the  Scotch  king  and 
the  English  barons,  as  they  and  their  retinue  alighted.* 

Edward  I.  has  not  in  these  days  the  sympathy  of  any  ge- 
nerous mind  with  him  in  his  Welsh  wars,  justifiable  as  the 
conquest  seemed  in  those  ages,  and  beneficial  as  it  has 
eventually  proved  to  Wales  as  well  as  England;  but  the 
manner  in  which  he  conducted  it  gave  fresh  proof  of  his 
great  ability.  In  his  first  campaign  the  ships  which  the 
Cinque-ports  furnished  behaved  so  well,  that  a  new  charter 
of  liberties  was  granted  to  those  ports,  in  acknowledgment 
of  their  services  to  his  predecessors,  and  specially  for  what 
they  now  rendered  in  Wales.  This  charter  confirmed  to 
them  all  the  privileges  to  which  they  had  been  entitled  from 
the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  and  conceded  large  ex- 
emptions")" from  ordinary  imposts,  as  also  from  the  law  con- 
cerning wardships  and  marriages,  which  was  then  a  recent 
enactment,  and  one  of  the  most  oppressive  that  ever  obtained 
in  this  kingdom ;  for  this  they  were  bound  to  serve  at  the 
king's  summons,  with  fifty-seven  ships,  for  fifteen  days,  at 
their  own  cost.:^  When  the  war  was  renewed,  4000  quarrels 
were  ordered  for  the  use  of  this  fleet,§  the  cross-bow  being 
then  in  distant  combat  what  the  musket  has  since  been.  One 
of  the  king's  first  measures  then  was  to  occupy  the  Isle  of 
Anglesea,  from  whence  the  Welsh  used  to  draw  supplies  of 
food,  and  whither  they  sometimes  retired  for  refuge.  The 
I9ft2  ships  of  the  Cinque-ports  performed  this  service  for 
'  him  the  more  easily,  because  the  chief  persons  in  the 
island,  pursuant  to  the  oath  which  they  had  taken  at  the  last 
peace,  did  not  act  against  them.  It  was  now  desirable  to 
establish  a  communication  with  the  main  land,  either  for  the 
purpose  of  acting  upon  the  rear  of  the  Welsh  army,  or  of 
combining  operations  with  that  part  of  his  own  which  was 
then  in  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country.  With  this  view 
he  laid  down  a  bridge  of  boats  in  the  narrowest  part  of  the 
Menai  Straits,  from  the  point  of  land  called  Mod-y-down, 
nearly  opposite  to  Bangor:  the  platform  which  he  raised 

*  Holinshed,  ii.  479.    Speed,  543. 

t  The  clause  is  a  rich  specimen  of  law  Latin  : — "  Ita  quod  quieti  sint  de 
omni  theoloiiio,  et  onini  curisuetudine;  videlicet,  ab  omni  bastagio,  talla- 
gio,  passagio,  caryagio,  rivagio,  sponsagio,  et  omni  wrecco,  et  de  tota 
vendicione,  aclialo  et  recliato  suo,  per  totam  terram  et  potestatem  nostram 
cum  socca  et  sacca,  et  lliol,  et  tliem  ;  et  quod  habeant  infangeiiethef,  et 
quod  sint  wrecfry  et  wytefry,  et  lestaeefry,  et  lonetopfry,  et  quod  liabeant 
den  el  strond  apud  Gernemouth." 

Bymer,i.  part  ii.  559.  §  Ibid.  604. 


WAR  AGAINST  THE  WELSH.  183 

Upon  it  was  wide  enough  for  threescore  men  to  pass  abreast. 
Seeing  this,  the  Welsh  threw  up  intrenchments  on  their 
side,  to  obstnict  the  work  in  its  progress,  to  check  the  ad- 
vance of  the  English  when  it  should  be  finished,  and  to 
secure  the  passage  into  their  own  mountains.  Before  it  was 
completed,  a  party  of  English,  with  some  of  the  Gascon 
lords,  and  a  body  of  Spaniards  who  were  then  in  Edward's 
service,  crossed  where  the  water  was  low  enough  for  them 
to  make  their  way  from  the  termination  of  the  bridge  to  the 
shore.  Richard  ap  Walwyn,  who  commanded  the  Welsh, 
let  them  advance  without  opposition,  to  reconnoitre  his  works 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountain ;  but  when  the  tide  came  in,  and 
intercepted  their  retreat,  he  rushed  down  upon  them  with  a 
very  superior  force,  and  drove  them  into  the  water :  many 
were  slain,  and  many,  by  reason  of  the  weight  of  their  armour, 
were  drowned  in  endeavouring  to  regain  the  bridge.  Thir- 
teen knights,  seventeen  esquires,  and  200  foot  soldiers  fell, 
according  to  the  English  account;  1000  according  to  the 
Welsh.  Among  them  was  "  that  famous  knight  sir  Lucas 
de  Thania,"  who  was  the  leader  of  the  foreign  troops,  sir 
William  Lindsey,  Robert  Clifford,  and  William  de  la  Zouch. 
Sir  William  Latimer,  who  commanded  the  English,  reco- 
vered the  bridge  by  the  stoutness  of  his  horse.*  Edward 
was  at  Aberconway  at  the  time, — for  no  such  imprudence 
would  have  been  committed  had  he  been  present ;  but  this 
loss,  and  the  inconvenience  which  the  passage  of  those  straits 
occasioned,  made  him  conceive  the  intention  of  constructing 
a  stone  bridge  there.  The  architects  whom  he  consulted 
made  an  unfavourable  report,  saying  that  the  bottom  was 
doubtful,  and  the  sea  at  limcs  raging  and  stormy.  Edward 
was  one  of  those  men  who  think  every  thing  practicable 
that  they  know  to  be  greatly  needed,  and  who,  in  the  strength 
of  that  persuasion,  overcome  difficulties  which  to  others 
would  be  insuperable  :  he  would  have  made  the  attempt,  if 
the  inhabitants  of  Arvon  had  not  petitioned  against  it,  and 
still  more  because  his  attention  was  engrossed  by  other 
schemes  of  ambition,  and  objects  of  more  pressing  import- 
ance.! But  he  would  have  failed  in  it;  for  what  he  pro- 
posed was  more  than  modern  engineers  have  ventured  to 
undertake.  It  was  reserved  for  Telford,  in  our  own  days,  to 
suspend  over  those  straits,  and  at  the  very  point  where  Ed- 
ward laid  his  floating  bridge,  an  iron  one  in  the  air,  which  is 
at  once  the  most  stupendous  and  the  most  beautiful  work  of 
its  kind  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

*  Holinslied,  ii.  4^5.    Warrington's  Hist,  of  Wales,  ii.  256—258. 
\  Beauties  of  England  and  Wales,  xvii,  297. 


184  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

.-,no  The  seas  were  very  Insecure  during  this  reign: 
'  France  had  now  raised  a  naval  force ;  and  the  French, 
on  one  part,  taking  advantage  of  this,  and  the  English,  on 
the  other,  of  the  jealousy  which  it  caused,  enormities  were 
connmitted  on  both  sides, — in  the  consequence  of  which  the 
governments  were  involved.  Six  ships  of  war  were  fitted 
out  by  England,  and  sent  to  Bourdeaux  for  the  defence  of 
the  coast  of  Gascony.  Two  of  these,  as  they  sailed  along 
the  coast  of  Normandy,  fearing  no  hurt,  were  assailed  by  the 
Norman  fleet,  and  taken,  and  several  of  the  men  hanged. 
With  whatever  provocation  this  may  have  been  done,  or 
with  whatever  pretext,  the  act  itself  was  so  outrageous,  thai 
the  lord  Robert  Tiptoft,  who  then  commanded  the  English 
fleet,  collected  the  force  under  his  orders,  and  sailed  for 
Normandy,  with  the  intention  of  revenging  himself  upon  any 
Norman  ships  that  he  might  fall  in  with.  Meeting  with 
none,  he  entered  the  mouth  of  the  Seine,  attacked  the  vessels 
that  lay  at  anchor  there,  and  captured  six,  having  slain  many 
of  the  men ;  and  then  returning  to  sea  with  his  prizes,  he 
cast  anchor  not  far  from  the  land,  in  hope  that  the  French 
might  be  provoked  to  come  forth,  and  give  him  battle. 
While  he  lay  there,  in  this  vain  expectation,  a  fleet  of  Nor- 
mans came  that  way,  on  their  return  from  Geiscony,  freighted 
with  wine :  they  were  in  great  strength,  and  had  gone  in 
boastful  defiance  of  the  English ;  but  they  were  now  attacked 
and  captured, — ^with  little  difficulty,  it  is  said,  yet  with  the 
slaughter  of  nearly  a  third  part  of  their  whole  force,  and 
Tiptoft  carried  them  to  England.  Thus  far  all  had  been 
done  "  rashly  between  the  Englishmen  and  the  Normans, 
without  any  commission  of  their  princes."  France  now 
"  prepared  a  navy,  and  furnished  it  with  soldiers  to  encounter 
the  English."  Messengers  the  while  went  to  and  fro,  the 
one  party  complaining  of  truce-breaking,  the  other  requiring 
restitution  of  ships  and  property  violently  taken ;  and  there 
might  have  been  good  hope  of  agreement,  if  Charles  earl  of 
Valois,  the  French  king's  brother,  "  being  of  a  hot  nature, 
and  desirous  of  revenge,  had  not  stirred  up  his  brother  to 
seek  revengement  by  force  of  arms."  Both  fleets  were  now 
equally  incensed :  the  French  went  forth  to  seek  the  English, 
and  these,  "  minding  not  to  detract  the  battle,  sharply  en- 
countered their  enemies  at  a  certain  place  betwixt  England 
and  Normandy,  where  they  had  laid  a  great  empty  ship  at 
anchor,  to  give  token  where  they  meant  to  join."  The 
English  had  Irish  and  Hollanders  with  them;  with  the 
French  there  were  Flemings  and  Genoese.  It  was  at  first  a 
doubtful  and  a  bloody  fight;  neither  the  number  nor  the  loss 


WAR  WITH    FRANCE.  186 

on  either  side  are  stated ;  but  In  the  end  the  French  were 
"  put  to  the  chase,  and  scattered  abroad."* 

The  two  nations  were  now  at  war;  and  the  king  .gq, 
of  England  "caused  three  several  fleets  to  be  pre- 
pared, and  appointed  to  them  three  sundry  admirals,  for  the 
better  keeping  of  the  seas :  to  them  of  Yarmouth  and  other 
of  tho^e  parts  he  assigned  the  lord  John  Botetourt ;  to  them 
of  the  Cinque-ports,  William  de  Leyborne ;  and  to  them  of 
the  west  country  and  the  Irishmen,  he  appointed  a  valiant 
knight  of  Ireland  as  their  chieftain."  One  of  these  fleets 
sailed  from  Portsmouth  ;  and  though  bafiled  for  a  while  by 
contrary  winds,  ascended  the  Garonne  at  last,  and  captured 
several  vessels. f  Instructions  were  given  by  the  English 
government  that  the  armed  force  of  the  country  should  be 
held  in  readiness  everywhere  along  the  English  coast  in  case 
of  invasion.  And  because,  it  was  said,  there  might  be  no 
little  danger  at  that  time  from  Normans  or  other  foreign 
religioners  settled  upon  the  coast,  or  upon  any  navigable 
rivers  which  communicated  with  it,  such  foreigners  were  to 
be  removed  into  the  interior,  and  all  ships  and  boats  belong- 
ing to  them  to  be  drawn  ashore,  and  deprived  of  their  rud- 
ders and  rigging.:^:  Treason  was  indeed  busily  at  work ; 
but  it  was  a  knight,  not  a  monk,  who  was  the  traitor.  Sir 
Thomas  Turberville,  "a  man  of  singular  and  approved 
valiancy,"  and  hitherto  of  unsuspected  fidelity,  had  been 
taken  prisoner  by  the  French  in  Gascony,  and  "  to  save  his 
life,  and  deliver  himself  out  of  captivity,"  engaged  to  use 
his  endeavours  for  raising  a  revolt  in  Wales,  and  also  for 
betraying  the  English  fleet:  this  latter  object  he  was  to 
bring  about  by  getting  the  command,  which  he  doubted  not 
to  obtain,  through  his  own  high  character  and  the  influence 
of  his  friends.  King  Edward,  though  he  had  received  him 
very  courteously ;  but,  "  as  God  would  have  it,  he  denied 
that  suit." 

The  French  fleet,  looking  for  the  success  of  this  coraplot, 
put  to  sea :  it  consisted,  what  with  galleys  and  other  ships, 
of  300  sail ;  for  the  French  king  had  obtained  vessels  both 
from  Marseilles  and  Genoa.  They  approached  the  coast, 
and  lay  at  anchor  oflf  it  for  some  days,  expecting  that  the 
English  fleet  would  come  forth  to  encounter  them,  and  that 
Turberville  would  betray  it  into  their  hands.  But  when 
their  patience  was  wearied  out,  they  landed  certain  persons 
who  knew  the  country,  that  they  might  obtain  intelligence, 

*  Holinshed,  ii.  500,  501.  t  Uolinihed,  5(M. 

;  Rymer,  i.  pari  ii.826. 

q2 


186  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

and  discover  the  cause  of  his  delay.  These  persons  were 
apprehended ;  and  as  they  could  give  no  satisfactory  account 
of  themselves,  they  were  executed  as  spies.  They  sent 
also  five  galleys  to  reconnoitre  the  coast :  one  of  these  came 
to  Hylhe,  and  by  a  stratagem  of  the  English,  who  feigned 
to  take  flight  into  the  interior,  the  crew  were  tempted  to 
land  as  to  an  easy  prize;  the  English  then  surprised  them, 
slew  the  whole  party,  and  burnt  the  galley.  Incensed  at 
this,  the  French  commander  sailed  straight  for  Dover,  landed 
there,  and  began  to  sack  the  priory  and  the  town.  "  There 
were  not  many  of  the  men  of  Dover  slain :  for  they  escaped 
by  swift  flight  at  the  first  entry  made  by  the  Frenchmen  : 
but  of  women  and  children  there  died  a  great  number;  for 
the  enemies  spared  none."  The  flight  of  the  men,  however, 
was  not  in  mere  baseness  :  they  raised  the  country  on  every 
side ;  and  great  numbers  having  collected,  came  to  Dover 
towards  evening ;  and,  attacking  such  Frenchmen  as  were 
prowling  in  quest  of  further  prey,  "  slew  them  down  in 
sundry  places."  The  French  commander,  who  had  been 
busy  all  the  day  in  plundering,  seeing  that  his  people  were 
running  to  the  sea-side,  got  straightway  to  his  ships,  with 
such  pillage  as  could  be  embarked  in  haste ;  but  not  before 
he  had  set  fire  to  the  town,  which  was  in  part  consumed. 
Many  who  had  ventured  into  the  country  for  spoil,  and  could 
not  reach  the  shore  in  time,  were  slain  wherever  they  were 
found  :  some  of  them  hid  themselves  in  the  corn-fields ;  and 
when  they  were  discovered,  they  were  slaughtered  like  wild 
beasts  by  the  countrj*^  people.  The  whole  loss  of  the  enemy 
was  little  less  than  800.  The  people  of  Dover  had  to  regret 
an  old  Benedictine,  Thomas  by  name,  who,  when  his 
brethren  took  flight,  could  not,  by  any  persuasions,  be  in- 
duced to  leave  his  convent,  nor,  by  any  threats,  to  discover 
its  treasures  when  the  French  came  to  plunder  it.  The 
plunderers,  therefore,  killed  him ;  and  for  this  martyrdom,  as 
it  was  deemed,  and  for  his  other  virtues,  he  was  held  in 
such  estimation,  that  miracles  were  performed  in  his  honour, 
through  the  faith  of  his  believers  or  the  fraud  of  his  fra- 
ternity.* But  this  attempt  at  setting  up  a  St.  Thomas  of 
Dover  failed ;  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  was  too  near  a 
neighbour.  Turberville's  treason  was  soon  afterwards  dis- 
closed by  his  secretary,  through  whom  his  correspondence 
with  the  French  was  carried  on :  he  attempted  to  escape,  but 
was  pursued  and  taken ;  and  having  been  brought  to  trial, 
and  convicted,  was  punished  with  death. 

♦Grafton,  i.  290.    Holinshed,  ii.  009.    Bzovius,  xiii.  1295.,  from  the  MS. 
Vatic,  de  lUbus  Anglicis. 


ENGLISH  IN  FLANDERS.  187 

The  English  on  their  part  were  not  more  fortu-  .gg^ 
nate  in  an  expedition  of  far  greater  magnitude  ;  and 
their  faihire  was  more  disgraceful,  because,  though  there  was 
no  default  of  courage,  it  was  mainly  attributable  to  their  own 
gross  misconduct.  Edward,  having  entered  into  an  alliance 
against  France  with  the  earl  of  Flanders,  embarked  with  an 
English  force  for  that  country,  and  landed  near  Sluys.  But 
no  sooner  had  he  disembarked,  than  "  through  old  envy 
and  malice  depending  between  the  mariners  of  the  Cinque- 
ports  and  those  of  Yarmouth  and  other  quarters,"  an  ill-sup- 
pressed enmity  broke  out;  and,  in  defiance  of  the  king's 
commands  and  in  contempt  of  his  presence,  the  two  parties 
fought  on  the  water  in  such  earnest  sort,  that,  on  the  Yar- 
mouth side,  there  were  five-and-twenty  ships  burnt  and 
destroyed ;  and  three  of  the  largest  vessels,  part  of  the  king's 
treasure  being  in  one  of  them,  "  were  tolled  forth  into  the 
high  sea,  and  quite  conveyed  away."  This  daring  defiance 
of  anthority  augured  ill  for  the  campaign  in  which  Edward 
was  engaged  ;  and,  in  fact,  his  men  were  little  more  subor- 
dinate ashore  than  they  had  shown  themselves  afloat.  A 
French  force  occupied  Bruges,  and  thought  to  have  taken 
the  English  fleet,  which  lay  in  the  harbour  of  Damme  ;  but 
they  had  timely  intelligence  and  put  to  sea.  The  enemy 
then  began  to  fortify  Bruges  and  Damme.  The  English  and 
their  allies  drove  them  from  the  latter  place  with  consider- 
able loss  ;  and  Bruges  also,  it  was  thought,  might  have  been 
recovered,  if  the  English  and  Flemings  had  not  fallen  at' 
strife  and  fought  together  "  about  the  division  of  the  prey." 
This  was  not  the  worst :  the  conduct  of  the  English  at 
Ghent,  where  Edward  passed  great  part  of  the  winter,  so 
exasperated  the  townsmen,  that  more  than  700  of  them  were 
slain  in  a  sudden  tumult ;  and  Edward  himself  is  said  to 
have  been  beholden  for  his  life  to  the  protection  of  a  knight 
of  Flanders.  The  ill-will  which  was  thus  occasioned,  and 
increased  by  the  outrages  of  the  English  footmen, — "  for 
they  one  day  plundered  the  town  of  Damme,  and  slew  as 
many  as  200  persons,  who  had  submitted  to  the  king  on  his 
arrival," — became,  at  length,  so  formidable,  notwithstanding 
the  efforts  of  Edward,  on  the  one  part,  to  curb  the  insolence 
of  his  troops,  and  of  the  earl  of  Flanders,  on  the  other,  to 
restrain  the  indignation  of  his  people,  that  this,  more  than 
arty  other  cause,  occasioned  the  failure  of  the  expedi- 
tion; and  the  king  took  the  first  pretext  for  returning  to 
England.* 

*  Holinslied,  ii.  325. 528. 


188  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

The  nearer  concerns  of  Wales  and  Scotland  occupied  Ed- 
ward too  much  to  allow  him  either  leisure  or  means  for  pro- 
secuting the  war  with  France  :  he  concluded  it  by  a  treaty, 
one  article  of  which  contracted  for  the  marriage  of  his  eldest 
6on,  Edward  of  Caernarvon,  with  the  French  princess  Isa- 
bella. No  royal  marriage  ever  afforded  sadder  or  more  fer- 
tile subject  for  tragedy  and  for  history  than  this.  Edward  I. 
has  been  reproached,  and  will  be  through  all  ages,  for  his 
treatment  of  Wallace  and  of  the  Welsh  prince  David :  it 
would  have  been  easier  for  him, — I  will  not  say  to  justify, — 
but  to  excuse  himself,  in  both  those  cases,  by  the  opinions  and 
feelings  of  that  age,  than  for  entering  into  this  fatal  contract. 
Three  years  before,  he  had  proposed  a  marriage  between  this 
his  eldest  son,  then  ten  years  of  age,  and  Philippa,  the 
youngest  daughter  of  Guy  earl  of  Flanders.  The  proposal 
was  gladly  accepted  by  the  earl,  with  the  advice  of  his  best 
friends :  the  portion  was  agreed  upon,  the  writings  made, 
and  lands  in  England  appointed  for  the  bride's  dowry. 
Whatever  views  of  policy  there  may  have  been  on  the  king 
of  England's  part  in  soliciting  this  matrimonial  alliance, 
there  was  none  on  the  earl's ; — -he  was  an  easy,  unambitious 
old  man,  desirous  only  of  keeping  his  people  in  peace,  and 
living  in  quietness.  France,  however,  regarded  it  with  ex- 
treme jealousy ;  for  it  was  already  a  state  maxim  with  that 
most  far-sighted  and  unscrupulous  of  all  governments,  to 

f»revent  any  union  of  interests  between  Flanders  and  Eng- 
and ;  and  Philip  the  Fair*  having  determined,  by  any  means, 
to  prevent  this  marriage,  had  recourse  to  the  basest.  He 
invited  the  earl,  in  terms  of  apparent  friendliness,  to  come 
and  advise  with  him  upon  matters  of  great  importance  ;  and 
the  earl,  accordingly,  suspecting  no  ill,  went  to  him  at  Cor- 
beil,  and  took  his  countess  with  him.  He  was  received 
with  reproaches  and  menaces.  By  the  laws  of  France,  the 
king  told  him,  no  vassal  of  that  croAvn,  how  great  soever, 
might  marry  any  of  his  children  out  of  the  realm  without 
the  king's  license ;  and  if  any  one  ventured  to  do  so,  his 
lands  were  forfeited.  The  astonished  earl  replied,  that  he 
had  never  failed,  nor  intended  to  fail,  in  his  obedience ;  that, 
in  desiring  an  advantageous  marriage  for  his  daughter,  he 
had  no  thought  of  offending  any  one ;  nor  had  he  ever  heard 
but  that  marriages  were  free.  He  mentioned  well-known 
instances  in  proof  that  they  were  so.  He  offered,  if  his 
faith  were  doubted,  to  give  such  security  as  might  be  re- 
quired ;  but  he  trusted  in  the  king's  royal  clemency,  that  no 

♦  "  Corpore  quidem  formosus,  sed  animo  seclestus  et  foedus,"  iays  Bzo- 
irius,  tom.  xiii.  996. 


EARL  OF  FLANDERS.  189 

violence  would  be  offered  him ;  and  this  with  the  more  rea- 
son, because  he  had  come  into  France  upon  the  king's  invi- 
tation, and  in  full  confidence  of  his  good  will :  finally,  he 
appealed  to  the  judgment  of  the  peers.  But  men  who  have 
resolved  to  act  iniquitously  are  never  to  be  moved  from  their 
purpose  by  force  of  reason.  Guy  and  his  countess  were 
sent  prisoners  to  the  tower  of  the  Louvre,  and  their  retinue 
were  cast  into  prison.* 

More  honour  was  found  in  the  peers  of  France  than  in  the 
king.  They  pronounced  against  this  injurious  detention ; 
and  their  decision  being  aided  by  the  intercession  of  the 
pope's  legates  at  that  time  in  France,  the  prisoners  were  re- 
leased, but  with  this  condition, — that  the  earl  should  make 
no  league  with  England,  and  that  he  should  deliver  up  his 
daughter  as  a  hostage.  That  daughter,  accordingly,  was 
brought  to  Paris;  and  there,  with  the  greatest  grief,t  her 
parents  left  her.  When  the  earl  had  returned  to  his  own  domi- 
nions, he  appealed  to  the  pope  against  this  injustice  ;  and  the 
pope,  by  a  legate  deputed  for  the  purpose,  called  upon  Philip 
to  deliver  up  his  innocent  hostage,  or  appear  before  the  con- 
sistory of  cardinals  to  justify  his  conduct;  he  was  threatened 
with  excommunication  if  he  refused.  The  papal  authority  has 
ever  been  found  fer  more  efficient  for  evil  than  for  good  :  and 
the  reason  is,  that  whenever  evil  is  to  be  done,  there  is  ad- 
ways  some  faction  ready  to  promote  it  with  all  their  soul  and 
with  all  their  strength ;  but  the  passions  are  never  brought  into 
action  on  behalf  of  reason  and  justice.  Philip  treated  both 
the  admonition  and  the  menaces  of  the  legate  with  contuma- 
cious contempt :  matters  of  state  and  profane  affairs,  he  said, 
were  not  within  the  pope's  jurisdiction.  When  the  earl 
found  that  there  was  no  hope  of  ebtainingthe  deliverance  of 
his  daughter  by  this  means,  he  listened  to  the  solicitations 
of  Edward,  of  the  emperor  Adolphus,  the  duke  of  Austria, 
and  other  inferior  states,  and  entered  into  a  league  against 
France.  Edward  engaged  to  assist  him  with  money,  as  well 
as  with  an  army.  In  case  the  projected  marriage  should  be 
frustrated  by  Philippa's  continued  detention,  or  by  her 
death,  the  prince  of  Wales  was  to  marry  her  sister  in  her 
stead  :  and  the  king  and  the  earl  bound  themselves  person- 
ally, by  oath  upon  the  Gospels,  to  make  neither  peace  or 
truce  with  France,  unless  it  were  conjointly,  not  even  though 

*  "  Teniendo  ya  desde  entonces  ai]uella  nacion  por  una  de  sus  maximas  de 
estado,  el  separar  las  fuerzas  de  Ingleses  y  Flamencos;  demas  de  la  invidia 
con  que  miravan  los  grander  de  Francia  las  riquezas  que  con  el  conimercio 
adqueria  csla  provincia."— Sacyro,  i.  329. 

t "  Cum  ingenti  Ao\ote."—BzoviM.  "  Con  grandes  lagrimas  y  sentimien- 
loe."—Sueyro. 


190  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  emperor  or  the  pope  should  require  it.*  This  treaty 
being  concluded,  the  earl  sent  ambassadors  to  demand  the 
liberation  of  his  daughter, — and  if  this  were  refused,  to  re- 
nounce his  fealty,  and  declare  war ;  at  the  same  time  Philip 
sent  to  summon  him,  as  his  vassal,  to  surrender  himself  pri- 
soner at  the  Chastelet.  Both  embassies  were  alike  fruitless, 
and  war  ensued.  The  issue  of  Edward's  campaign  in  Flan- 
ders has  been  just  related  :  he  found  it  necessary  to  return 
to  his  own  country,  because  of  the  dislike  which  the  English 
manifested  for  this  war,  and  because  of  the  resistance  to 
which  the  Scotch  had  been  roused  by  Wallace.  But  the  affair 
at  Ghent  had  produced  ill  blood  between  the  English  and 
the  Flemings  ;  and  Edward,  in  whom  all  other  considerations 
were  subordinate  to  those  of  his  ambitious  policy,  thought 
that  a  close  alliance  with  France  would  secure  him  against 
the  troubles  which  that  power  might  otherwise  excite  or  fo- 
ment in  his  recent  conquests, — Wales  and  Scotland.  He 
entered,  therefore,  into  a  treaty  with,  Philip;  engaged  to 
marry  Philip's  sister  himself,  and  that  the  prince  of  Wales, 
breaking  the  contract  with  Philippa,  should  marry  the  king 
of  France's  daughter.  The  oath  by  which  he  was  bound  to 
the  earl  of  Flanders  was  easily  dispensed  with  ;  and  when 
such  dispensations  can  be  procured,  and  are  thought  valid, 
the  obligations  of  honour  and  conscience  are  worth  nothing.f 
Edward  was  bound  in  both  to  have  obtained  the  deliverance 
of  Philippa,  and  to  have  restored  her  to  her  parents. 

The  fate  of  the  earl  and  of  his  much-injured  daughter  may 
be  related  in  few  words.  The  defeat  of  his  other  allies  at 
Bovines,  and  the  rebellious  discontent  of  his  subjects  be- 
cause of  the  burdens  imposed  upon  them,  left  him  at  the 
mercy  of  a  merciless  enemy.  Treachery  was  again  used 
against  him :  he  was  assured  that  he  might  put  himself  with- 
out danger  into  Philip's  hands,  and  that  he  had  no  alterna- 
tive :  he  did  so, — for  he  had  none ;  and  he  was  thrown  into 
strict  confinement.  The  French  took  possession  of  Flan- 
ders :  they  were  received  as  deliverers  by  a  people,  then  the 
most  mutable  and  turbulent,  as  well  as  the  most  industrious, 
in  Europe.  They  behaved  with  such  intolerable  insolence 
and  tyranny,  that  the  Flemings  rose  against  them,  and 
France  received,  at  Groeninghe,  one  of  the  most  signal  de- 
feats recorded  in  her  history.  After  four  years'  imprison- 
ment, Guy  was  released,  during  a  truce,  upon  condition  of 
his  returning  to  prison,  unless  that  truce  should  be  terminat- 
ed by  a  peace,  which  it  was  thought  his  presence  mi^ht  pro- 
mote. The  negotiation  failed  ;  and  the  honourable  old  man, 
*  Rymer,  i.  part  ii.  850.  852.  t  Sueyro,  i.  344. 


SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  SEAS.  191 

on  his  return,  was  treated  with  the  same  rigour  as  before.* 
He  died  soon  afterwards  in  that  confinement,  being  more 
than  eighty  years  of  age.  Peace,  after  a  most  obstinate  and 
bloody  contest,  was  concluded  in  the  year  following ;  and 
his  body,  which  had  been  embalmed  and  closed  in  lead,  was 
then  delivered  up,  with  the  prisoners  who  were  in  the  king's 
hands, — all  but  Philippa!  The  same  motives  which  had 
caused  the  French  king  to  seize  upon  this  victim,  induced 
him  still  to  detain  her ;  but,  in  a  little  time,  she  was  released 
by  death.  Grief  for  her  own  wrongs ;  for  the  loss  of  her 
mother,  who  died  during  her  captivity ;  and  for  her  father's 
sufferings ;  brought  this  victim  of  remorseless  policy  to  an 
untimely  grave.  There  were  some  who  believed  that  poison 
had  been  administered  to  her  by  the  queen  of  France,  whose 
hatred  of  the  Flemings  even  exceeded  her  husband's.  But 
of  this  there  is  neither  proof  nor  probability :  the  story  is  tra- 
gical enough  without  such  a  catastrophe ;  the  cruelty  was 
quite  as  great, — the  crime  but  little  less.  About  two  years 
after  her  death,  Edward  of  Caernarvon  was  married  to  Phi- 
lip's daughter  Isabel,  that  "  she-wolf  of  France,"  whose 
infamy  is  recorded  in  everlasting  verse ;  and  never  was  any 
royal  marriage  so  prolific  of  evil  to  two  nations  ;t  for  from 
that  marriage  the  claims  of  the  Plantagenets  to  the  crown 
of  France  originated,  and  the  wars  which  arose  in  pursu- 
ance of  that  claim  produced  that  deep  and  rooted  enmity  be- 
tween France  and  England  which,  after  the  lapse  of  four 
centuries,  continues  to  be  felt  and  manifested  upon  all  seas 
and  shores.^ 

By  an  article  of  the  treaty  wherein  this  iniquitous  mar- 
riage was  one  of  the  stipulations,  the  two  kings  bound  them- 
selves to  aid  each  other  against  any  who  should  go  about 
to  interrupt  them  in  the  franchises,  liberties,  rights,  or  cus- 
toms of  them  and  their  subjects ;  and  this  gave  occasion  to 
an  inquiry  in  w^hich  the  king  of  England's  sovereignty  of 
the  seas  was  on  the  one  hand  asserted,  and  recognised  on  the 
other.  The  case  was  this.  The  war  between  France  and 
Flanders  continuing  after  England  had  withdrawn  from  it, 
the  French  king  sent  a  large  fleet  to  sea,  under  the  command 

*"No  ablandO — la  puiuualidad  deGuido  el  aniino  endurecido  del  Rey, 
piles  usd  con  el  viejo  ya  decrepito  del  inismo  rigor." — Sueyro,  i.  374. 

t  Sueyro  acknowleilges  a  righteous  judgment  here  : — "  Este  casamiento, 
hecho  con  el  mayor  aparato  y  alegria,  fue  el  mas  danoso  a  Francia,  pues 
por  el  pretendcn  aun  los  Inglescs  la  succession  della,  sobre  que  sc  peled  y 
derram5  tanta  sangre.  Pcrmitiolo  nuestro  Senor  por  sua  Justus  juyzios, 
para  que  se  viesse  la  incertidumbre  de  los  humanos,  y  quanto  mejor  lea 
estuviera  a  los  Franceses  el  no  haver  impedido  el  matrimonio  del  mitmo 
Eduardo  acordado  con  Phelipa."— i.  387. 

I  Sueyro,  i.  340.  370.  374.  385. 


192  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

of  Reyner  Grimbaldi,*  a  Genoese  noble,  to  whom  he  gare 
the  title  of  admiral.  Grimbaldi,  under  colour  of  thiit  com- 
mission, captured  several  ships  of  different  nations,  bound 
to  the  Flemish  ports :  upon  this,  complaints  were  made  both 
to  the  kings  of  England  and  France,  and  they  jointly  ap- 
pointed commissioners  to  hear  and  determine  the  case.  The 
complaint  was  laid  before  these  commissioners  in  the  names 
of  the  procurators  of  the  prelates  and  nobles,  and  of  the 
admiral  of  the  English  seas,  and  of  the  communities  of  cities 
and  towns,  and  of  the  merchants,  mariners,  strangers  resi- 
dent, and  all  others  belonging  to  the  kingdom  of  England, 
and  other  territories  subject  to  the  king  of  England;  and 
likewise  in  the  name  of  the  inhabitants  of  other  maritime 
countries,  such  as  Genoa,  Catalonia,  Spain,  Germany,  Zee- 
land,  Holland,  Frizeland,  Denmark,  Norway,  and  many 
other  places  of  the  empire.  It  set  forth  that  the  kings  of 
England  had,  for  so  long  time  that  there  was  no  memory  to 
the  contrary  thereof,  been,  by  right  of  that  kingdom,  in 
peaceable  possession  of  the  sovereignty}-  of  the  English  seas, 
and  of  the  isles  therein,  with  power  of  ordaining  and  establish- 
ing laws,  statutes,  and  prohibitions  of  arms,  and  of  ships 
otherwise  furnished  than  merchantmen  used  to  be ;  and  of 
taking  security  and  safeguard  in  all  cases  where  need  might 
be ;  and  of  ordering  all  things  necessary  for  the  maintenance 
of  peace,  right,  and  equity  among  all  manner  of  people,  as 
well  of  other  dominions  as  their  own,  passing  through  the 
said  seas,  by  the  sovereign  guard  thereof,  and  by  all  manner 
of  cognizance  of  parties,  high  and  low,  according  to  the  said 
laws,  statutes,  ordinances,  and  prohibitions,  and  all  other 
things  which  to  the  exercise  of  their  sovereignty  in  these 
seas  appertained.  This  right  they  complained  had  been  in- 
vaded by  Messire  Reyner  Grimbaldi,  master  of  the  navy  of 
the  king  of  France,  who,  calling  himself  admiral  of  the  said 
seas,  had,  after  the  peace  made  with  England,  and  against 
the  form  and  force  of  that  alliance,  and  the  intentions  of 
those  who  made  it,  wrongfully  exercised  that  office  in  the 
English  seas ;  takinw  the  subjects  and  merchants  of  the 
kingdom  of  England  and  of  other  countries,  when  passing 
upon  the  said  seas  with  their  goods,  and  casting  them  into 
prison,  and  by  his  own  judgment  and  award  causing  their 
goods  to  be  delivered,  as  forfeit  and  confiscate,  to  receivers 
appointed  for  that  purpose  in  the  French  king's  ports.  Grim- 
baldi, in  his  answer  to  this  plea,  neither  disputed  the  king 
of  England's  sovereignty,  nor  pleaded  any  power  derived 

•  Grimbaltz,  our  writers  call  him.  f  "  La  soveraine  seigneurie." 


ENMITY  TO  PRANCE.  193 

to  himself  from  the  commission  of  the  king  of  France ;  but 
he  argued  that  there  was  no  contravention  of  the  treaty; 
King  Edward  having  contracted  neither  to  give  aid  or  as- 
sistance, nor  suffer  it  to  be  given,  to  the  enemies  of  king 
Philip,  and  having  issued  a  prohibition  of  sucli  practices ; 
all  persons,  therefore,  who  after  that  prohibition  relieved  the 
Flemings  by  merchandise,  or  in  any  other  way,  were  to  be 
deemed  enemies,  of  whatever  nation  they  might  be ;  and  tlie 
treaty  itself,  in  its  just  interpretation,  authorized  him  to  deal 
with  them  accordingly.  The  determination  is  not  known ; 
the  pleadings  only  have  been  preserved  among  our  own  re- 
cords ;*  and  they  were  of  no  inconsiderable  importjmce  in 
times  when  history,  and  prescription,  and  rights,  were  ap- 
pealed to  on  points  which  must  ultimately  be  decided  by  the 
law  of  the  strongest. 

During  this  reign  it  was  that  England  began  to  take  ,  go/x 
any  farther  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  Spanish  pe- 
ninsula, than  what  had  accidentally  arisen  during  the  cru- 
sades. Edward's  first  marriage,  happy  as  that  marriage  was, 
led  to  a  friendly  intercourse  between  the  courts  of  Castile 
and  England  ;  and  the  queen's  brother,  Alphonso  the  Wise, 
was  allowed  to  engage  English  shipwrights  for  his  own  ser- 
vice, and  also  to  buy  or  build  ships  and  galleys  in  the  Eng- 
lish ports  for  his  wars  against  the  Moors. f  There  have  been 
many  exasperating  circumstances  to  imbitter  the  wars  in 
which  Spain  and  England  have  been  engaged  against  each 
other  ;  but  at  no  time  has  there  existed  that  deep  feeling  of 
national  enmity  which  had  now  taken  root  in  the  hearts  of 
the  French  and  English  people.  How  strongly  Edward  I. 
felt  that  enmity,  appears  by  a  remarkable  anecdote  relating 
to  his  second  wife,  the  lady  Margaret,  daughter  of  Philip  the 
Bold  of  France.  The  mother's  milk  disagreed  with  her 
first-born  son,  Thomas  of  Brotherton,:}:  but  he  throve  upon 
that  of  an  English  nurse;  after  many  trials,  the  effect  al- 
ways proved  the  same ;  and  when  this  was  reported  to  the 
father,  he  smiled  upon  the  infant,  and  said,  "  God  give  thee 
grace,  my  boy !  I  see  thou  art  right  English  in  thy  nature, 
and  mayest  one  day  show  thyself  a  notable  enemy  to  the 
French  nation  !"§  The  great  object  of  Edward's  ambition, 
being  not  only  a  valiant  but  also  a  politic  prince,  was  to 
bring  this  divided  isle  into  one  entire  monarchy.  The  French 
let  no  opportunity  pass  of  secretly  impeding  him  in  it ;  and 

*  Campbell,  136—132.  t  Rymer,  i.  part  ii.  580. 

I  So  called  from  hia  birth-place,  near  Pontcfract. 

$  Joshua  Barnes's  Ili^it.  of  Edward  III.  44.    Wal^inghani  quoted 

Vol.  I.  R 


194  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 

while  this  unfriendly  feeling  existed  between  the  govern 
,  orti  ments,  a  hostile  one  was  ready  to  manifest  itself  on 
'  any  provocation  between  the  people  ;  insomuch  that 
the  English  ports  were  instructed  to  charge  all  their  seamen, 
when  going  to  a  French  harbour,  to  be  upon  their  guard 
there,  and  hold  their  ships  always  in  readiness  both  for  get- 
ting out  to  sea  and  for  defence  ;  and  they  were  enjoined,  in 
all  the  necessary  dealings  that  they  might  have  on  shore,  to 
go  so  prepared  that  they  might  be  able,  both  to  defend  them- 
selves in  case  of  need,  and  to  make  good  their  retreat  to  their 
vessels.* 

The  manners  of  every  maritime  nation,  greatly  advanced 
as  they  were  beyond  the  inland  ones,  were  not  yet  so  far  mi- 
tigated at  this  time,  but  that  acts  of  outrage  and  piracy  were 
frequently  committed,  to  the  constant  danger  of  embroiling 
governments  when  most  amicably  inclined  towards  each 
other.  Reprisals  were  provoked  by  wrongs  ;  and  these  fall- 
ing upon  the  innocent,  and  being,  therefore,  not  less  wrong- 
ful in  themselves,  called  forth  fresh  acts  of  violence  ;  sum- 
mary vengeance  oftentimes  preventing  or  embarrassing  the 
slow  course  of  equitable  examination  upon  which  the  re- 
spective governments  had  conjointly  entered. f  Piracies 
were  frequent.  An  English  ship,  taken  by  pirates,  and  re- 
taken from  them  by  the  Portugueze,  was  carried  into  Lis- 
,  ort-  bon  ;  and  when  it  had  been  carefully  preserved  tliere 
two  whole  years  for  its  owners,  king  Diniz  applied 
to  the  English  government  to  take  measures  for  discovering 
to  whom  it  belonged, — an  early  and  honourable  instance  of 
Portugiieze  probity.:^:  The  Spaniards  are  accused,  at  this 
time,  of  sailing  under  Portugueze  colours,  and  attacking 
,o«Q  English  ships,  with  the  view  of  setting  the  two  coun- 
tries at  variance.§  Piracy  was  sometimes  carried  on 
more  audaciously:  a  piratical  squadron  from  the  ports  of 
Biscay  and  Asturias  carried  off  three  ships  from  Southamp- 
ton, and  plundered  the  house  of  a  brave  man  who  endea- 
voured to  oppose  them ;  they  killed  one  of  his  near  kins- 
men, and  he  himself  hardly  escaped  with  life  from  their 
hands.  Two-and-twenty  sail  from  Calais  attacked  four  of 
our  merchantmen  close  to  the  coast  of  Kent,  and,  killing 

Rymer,  i.  part  ii.  936. 

Proofs  of  this  may  be  found  in  Rymer,  vol  i.  part  ii  pp.  38.  4(3 — 77.,  and 
vol.  ii.  p.  294.  There  is  an  atrocious  case  which  occurred  in  one  of  the  porta 
of  Norway.  The  sailors  of  every  nation  seem  in  those  times  to  have  be- 
haved, where  they  felt  themselves  strong  enough,  with  as  little  regard  to 
probity  or  humanity  as  they  sometimes  show  now  in  the  South  Seas. 
}  Rymer,  ii.  7.  §  Ibid,  ii  53. 


BARBARITIES  ON  THE  SEAS.  195 

many  of  the  crew,  captured  one  vessel,  which  was  laden  with 
wool  for  Antwerp,  to  the  value  of  2000  marks.* 

These  were  individual  offences  which  had   no   political 
bearing,  but  which  characterize  the  state  of  society.     They 
led  to  more  serious  consequences  when  Edward  II.  was  en- 
gaged in  his  disastrous  wars  in  Scotland.  At  first  his    »qin 
complaint  was,  that  a  Flemish  pirate,  manned  chiefly 
by  outlaws  from  Hainaultand  Holland,  infested  the  northern 
coast,f  and  intercepted  the  supplies  of  his  army.     But  it  ap- 
peared afterwards  that  the  Scotch  drew  stores  of  provisions 
and  arms  from  the  Flemish  ports,  under  favour  of  that  go- 
vernment.    John  de  Botetout,  whose  station  was  at    .„._ 
Yarmouth,  was  charged  to  look  out  for  and  intercept 
thirteen  large  Scotch^  vessels,  which  were  taking  in  such  a 
cargo  at  Sluys.     Some  years  later,  when  this  state  of  thingrs 
had  ended  in  open  war,  the  Flemings  put  to  death,  without 
mercy,  the  crews  of  such  ships  as  fell  into  their  hands  ;  the 
seaports  were  officially  apprized  of  this,  and  instruct-    .  „g„ 
ed  to  act  accordingly.     Yet  so  little  resentment  did 
this  excite, — probably,  indeed,  so  little  did  it  exceed  the  or- 
dinary barbarities  with  which  hostilities  were  carried    ,  ogo 
on, — that,  in  the  two  succeeding  years,  the  Flemish 
merchants  were  allowed,  upon  the  earl's  application,  to  repair 
to  England  during  the  wool-staple,  and  make  their  purchases 
as  in  time  of  peace. §    The  French  appear  to  have  entertained 
wider  notions  of  the  rights  of  war  than  their  more  commer- 
cial neighbours;  for  the  king  of  France,  upon  intelligence 
that  certain  Spanish  ships,  laden  with  arms  and  stores  for 
Flanders,  with  which  country  he  was  then  at  war,  had  been 
detained  by  the  constable  of  Dover,  wrote  to  Edward,  de- 
siring that  these  ships  might  be  confiscated  to  his,  the  king 
of  England's,  use,  and  the  people  on  board  treated  as  slaves.| 
Edward's  reply  to  this  extraordinary  request  was,  that  he 
had  not  been  informed  of  the  detention  of  any  such  ships  in 
his  ports ;  but  that  he  would  cause  inquiry  to  be  made,  and 
if  they  were  found,  would  then  do  what  ought  to  sa-    .„,„ 
tisfy  the  king  of  France.lf  ^^*"*' 

*  Rymer,  ii.  279.  A  valuable  cargo; — when,  in  another  complaint  to  the 
king  of  France,  we  read  of  a  Yarmouth  ship,  whose  cargo  (taken  in  at 
Rouen)  of  woollen  and  linen  clbths,  iron,  canvas?,  cables,  and  g-old  and  silver, 
amounted  to  forty  pounds  sterling.  Rymer,  ii.  40.  Gold  and  silver,  however, 
can  only  mean  the  money  of  which  the  master  and  the  crew  were  robbed. 

t  Rymer,  ii.  118.  . 

I  Magne  cage  are  the  original  words.  (Rymer,  ii.  209.)  The  words  navilmg 
give  cogis  afterwards  occur.    Ketch  is  probably  the  modern  word. 

{  Rymer,  ii.  516.  564.       ||  "  Tanquam  servos  et  exclaves."— iJymer,  ii.  381. 

ir"Taliter  faciemua  quod  foredebeat  vobis  gratum." 


196  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

During  the  Scottish  war,  the  best  ships  were  ordered  to 
be  taken  for  the  king's  service ;  thirty  from  the  ports  of 
Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  as  many  from  the  line  of  coast  extend- 
ing from  Shoreham  to  Plymouth,  and  an  indefinite  number 
(probably  the  same)  from  Essex  and  Kent.*  John  Sturmy 
and  Peter  Bard  were  appointed  captains  and  admirals  of  this 
fleet,  as  well  over  the  king's  own  ships,  as  of  those  which 
he  had  obtained  from  the  northern  countries,  and  with  full 
power  of  punishing  all  offences.f  The  Scotch  had  contract- 
ed with  certain  Genoese  merchants  to  supply  them  with 
galleys  and  arms  ;  and  the  king  of  England,  being  apprized 
of  this,  complained  to  the  state  of  Genoa,  as  a  power  with 
-.nin  which  England  had  always  maintained  relations  of 
■  peace  and  amity,  and  requested  it  to  interfere.:!:  The 
naval  means  of  England  were  not  then  what  they  had  been 
in  his  father's  reign ;  for,  in  the  year  ensuing,  he  found  it 
expedient  himself  to  apply  to  Genoa  for  permission  to  pur- 
chase, and  arm,  and  man  five  galleys  there  for  the  Scottish 
wars.§  But  how  anxiously  the  English  government  re- 
.  __  .  garded  whatever  might  affect  the  maritime  trade  of 
the  country,  was  shown  when  an  affray  took  place,  at 
Southampton,  between  the  crews  of  five  Venetian  galleys, 
and  the  townspeople  and  Isle-of-Wightmen :  lives  were  lost 
on  both  sides ;  the  Venetians  put  to  sea ;  and  their  country- 
men, on  reasonable  fear  of  being  made  to  suffer  for  the 
guilty,  after  the  too  common  practice  of  that  age  in  such 
disputes,  suspended  their  intercourse  with  England,  till  the 
king  invited  them  to  resume  it,  and  with  that  view  granted 
a  pardon  to  all  and  any  persons  of  that  country  who  had 
been  concerned  in  the  fray.|| 

When  the  king  found  it  necessary  to  engage  in  war  with 
France,  in  resentment  of  the  open  hostilities  which  had  been 
commenced  against  him  in  Aquitaine,  a  rigorous  ordinance 
was  issued  for  arresting  all  French  subjects  in  England,  of 
whatever  state,  condition,  or  sex ;  those  who  might  be  of  his 
own  or  of  his  queen's  household,  or  entertained  in  any  other 
family  whatsoever,  not  excepted.  Their  lands,  tenements, 
goods,  and  chattels  were  to  be  seized  for  the  king's  use ; 
some  reasonable  allowance  being  reserved  only  for  the  reli- 
gioners and  their  attendants.^f  A  subsequent  order  mitigated 
this  cruelty  ;  an  exception  being  then  made  for  all  ecclesi- 

*  Rymer,  ii.  223. 

t  "Proutad  officium  capitanei  et  amiralli  flotae  bujusmodi  pertinet  in 
bac  parte."— iJymer,  ii.  244. 
t  Rymer,  ii.  293.  §  Ibid.  ii.  313. 

i  Ibid.  ii.  54G.  593.  V  Ryraer,  ij.  570. 


EDWARD  III.  197 

aetical  persons,  and  for  those  who,  having  wives  and  children, 
had  long  been  domesticated  here,  and  thereby  were  natural- 
ized.* The  edict  of  his  father  for  removing  foreign  monks 
or  friars  from  the  coast  was  at  this  time  renewed,  because 
of  the  mischief  they  might  do  by  letters,  signals,  or  other 
means ;  and  their  places  in  the  respective  convents  were  to 
be  filled  up  with  English  brethren  of  the  same  order,  with 
whom,  in  fact,  they  exchanged  for  the  time.f  Considerable 
loss  was  inflicted  upon  France  at  this  time  in  her  "  sea- 
strengths;"  the  three  admirals,:}:  sir  John  Oturwin,  sir 
Nicholas  Kiriel,  and  sir  John  de  Felta,  scoured  the  narrow 
seas  with  such  success,  that  within  a  short  time  they 
brought  into  England,  as  lawful  prizes,  120  Norman 
vessels.§ 

When  Edward  III.,  through  the  crimes  of  his  mother,  and 
the  successful  efforts  of  her  partisans,  succeeded  too  early 
to  his  unhappy  father's  throne,!|  the  state  of  affairs  seemed 
to  require  more  wisdom  than  was  likely  to  be  found  in  his 

•*  "  Tanquain  indigena;." — Rijmcr,  ii.  038-* 

t"The  earl  of  Surrey,  \viitii)g  to  Cardinal  Wolsey,  says  that  he  was 
spared  from  burning  the  priory  ol^ Coldstream, '  because  the  prioress  thereof 
is  one  of  the  best  and  most  assured  spies  that  we  have  in  Scotland,  for 
which  cause  we  may  not  well  spare  her.'  " — Braylet/s  Oraphic  and  Histori- 
cal Illustrator,  p.  183.     Ellis's  Original  Letters,  quoted. 

X  Sir  John  Cronibwell  was,  in  the  year  1324,  admiral  of  the  fleet  which 
went  out  to  Gascony.    (Rymer,  i.  5G2.)    I  believe  this  is  the  first  time  that 
name,  which  afterwards  became  so  memorable,  occurs  in  our  history. 
{  Speed,  561.    Campbell,  i.  134. 

11  "  Because  many  of  our  historians,"  says  Joshua  Barnes,  "  lay  some 
imputation  upon  the  name  of  king  Edward  111  ,  as  if  he  was  not  wholly 
innocent  of  these  proceedings  against  his  father,  we  are  to  consider  the 
tenderness  of  his  age,— he  being  not  then  fourteen  years  old,— whereby  he 
might  very  easily  be  imposed  ujmn  by  the  treacherous  subtlety  cf  Mortimer 
and  his  accomplices,  who  were  always  about  him  :  also  we  should  cast  our 
eyes  upon  the  severity  he  showed  this  aame  Mortimer,  when  he  understood 
the  whole  treason.  Nor  is  it  a  small  sign  of  his  innocence  as  to  this  point, 
that  he  himself  lived  long  and  reigned  happily,  being  blest  with  many  duti- 
ful children  ;  and  that  no  other  circumstances  of  his  whole  life  can  furnish 
us  with  any  thing  from  whence  we  may  suspect  that  he  could  be  capable  of 
Bo  black  and  unnatural  a  treason." — p.  3. 

The  poet  May  took  a  farther  view  than  the  industrious  Joshua,  who 
was  dazzled  by  the  splendour  of  Edward's  reign.  "  The  son,"  he  says 
"  upon 

His  father's  ruins  is  compelled  to  rise  ; 
Asif  by  that  the  envious  Destinies 
Meant  to  alloy  this  Edward's  glorious  reign, 
As  loth  to  suffer  England  to  obtain 
So  great  a  blessing  at  the  lawful  time, 
Or  such  a  prince  without  a  public  crime  ; 
For  which  the  land  must  after  sufl'er,  by 
A  rent  so  made  in  his  posterity." 

keigmof  Edward  III.,  book  i. 
May's  two  historical  poems  show  how  completely  he  had  imbibed  the 
manner  of  bis  favourite  poet  Lucan. 

r2 


198  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

distracted  councils,  and  more  vigour  than  could  be  expected 
from  his  boyish  arm.  The  war  with  France,  which  had 
1 007  been  made  one  means  for  bringing  about  the  ruin  ot 
*  the  late  king,  was  terminated  by  a  treaty,  and  peace 
made  with  Scotland  upon  no  honourable  terms.  Neither 
were  of  long  duration.  It  was  not  easy  soon  to  stop  those 
depredations  upon  the  seas  which  war  had  licensed  ;  so  far, 
however,  as  the  power  of  a  weak  government  extended,  an 
end  was  put  to  them.*  Like  every  thing  else,  the  naval 
strength  of  the  kingdom  had  suffered  during  the  misrule  and 
the  internal  troubles  of  the  preceding  reign  ;  and  upon  the 
first  inquiry,  it  was  found  that  the  smaller  craft  belonging 
to  the  crown  were,  for  want  of  care,  going  fast  to  decay.y 
But  when  Edward,  by  a  resolute  act  of  vengeance  against 
his  mother's  minion,  took  the  government,  at  a  very  early 
age,  into  his  own  hands,  he  stood  in  need  of  all  his  resources. 
Upon  the  death  of  king  .Charles  le  Beau  of  France,  Edward 
advanced  a  title  to  that  kingdom  through  his  mother, — not  in 
derogation  of  the  Salic  law,  whereby  be  acknowledged  that 
his  mother  (as  well  as  the  infant  daughter  of  the  deceased 
king)  was  excluded ;  but  on  the  ground  that  a  daughter's 
son,  having  no  disqualification  of  sex,  was  capable  of  the 
succession,  and  ought  to  be  preferred  to  a  nephew,  who  was 
1^28  *^^  other  claimant.  The  peers  of  France  decided 
otherwise.  Accordingly  Philip  of  Valois  succeeded 
to  the  throne,  and  summoned  Edward  to  make  his  personal 
appearance  before  him  in  France,  and  there  do  homage  for 
the  dukedom  of  Aquitaine  and  the  earldom  of  Ponthieu  and 
Monstreul.  His  anibassadors  found  the  king  at  Windsor, 
and  having  discharged  their  bidding,  Edward  replied,  that  it 
^\'as  a  matter  which  required  advice,  and  few  of  his  council 
were  then  about  him ;  but  if  they  would  repair  to  London, 
"  he  would  there  give  them  such  an  answer  as  should  be  re- 
solved on."  At  Westminster,  accordingly,  they  were  heard 
before  the  council,  and  delivered  the  king  of  France's  letters, 
which  Edward  had  refused  to  receive  before.  They  were 
then  required  to  withdraw  while  the  business  should  be 
debated.  Some  of  the  lords  were  of  opinion,  that,  seeing 
the  crown  of  France  belonged  to  him  in  right  of  queen 
Isabel,  his  mother,  he  ought  not  to  acknowledge  any  fealty, 
but  openly  put  forth  his  claim  for  what  they  considered  to  be 
evidently  his  due  :  the  majority,  on  the  other  hand,  insisted, 
that  it  was  too  early  for  him  to  embark  in  so  great  and 
hazardous  an  enterprise,  the  enemy  being  at  that  time  so 

*  Rymer,  ii.  part  ii.  700.  Ibid.  608. 


HOMAOE  REaUIRED  FROM  EDWARD  III.  199 

powerful^  the  realm  at  home  unsettled,  and  he  himself  so 
young, — for  he  was  then  but  in  his  fifteenth  year.  The  youth 
of  Edward  must  be  his  only  excuse  for  consenting  to  a  sub- 
terfuge whicli  has  been  too  often  repeated,  and  which  exem- 
plifies the  loose  morality  of  the  papal  church.  In  order  that 
his  right  and  future  claim  should  not  be  prejudiced  by  any 
thing-  which  he  might  now  by  liis  present  circumstances  be 
compelled  to  do,  he  constituted  one  of  the  council  his  procu- 
rator on  that  part,  and  by  him  he  protested  "  openly  and 
expressly  before  all  his  council," — but  not  before  the  French 
ambassadors,  from  whom  this  important  part  of  the  proceed- 
ings was,  of  course,  kept  secret, — that  for  any  homage  what- 
soever to  be  made  to  the  lord  Philip  of  Valois,  then  bearing 
himself  as  king  of  France,  by  king  Edward  of  England,  for 
the  dukedom  of  Aquitaine  and  the  earldom  of  Ponthieu,  he, 
king  Edward,  did  not,  nor  would,  thereby  renounce  his  here- 
ditary right  to  the  realm  of  France,  nor  intend  in  any  way 
from  that  same  right  to  derogate;  even  although  letters 
thereupon  should  afterwards  be  signed  with  either  of  his 
-seals.  And  he  protested  that  he  should  not  make  any 
homage  to  the  said  lord  Philip  of  his  own  free  will,  but  only 
under  the  just  fear  he  had  of  losing  the  said  dukedom  and 
earldom,  and  because  he  feared  that  unless  he  did  this 
homage,  he  could  not  avoid  other  great  dangers  and  irrepa- 
rable losses.  In  confirmation  of  this,  the  procurator  took  for 
the  young  king  an  oath  upon  his  soul,  by  laying  hands  upon 
the  holy  Gospel,  before  all  the  council  present.* 

The  ambassadors  were  then  called  in,  and  the  bishop  of 
London,  Stephen  Gravesend,  "  a  well-spoken  man,"  address- 
ed them  in  these  words  : — "  Lords  that  be  here  assembled 
for  the  king  of  France,  the  king's  grace,  my  sovereign  lord, 
hath  heard  your  words  and  read  the  tenor  of  your  letters. 
Sirs,  we  say  unto  you,  that  we  will  counsel  the  king  our 
sovereign  lord  here  present,  that  he  go  into  France,  to  see 
the  kin^  your  master,  his  dear  cousin,  who  right  lovingly 
hath  invited  him ;  and  as  touching  his  faith  and  homage,  he 
shall  do  his  devoir  in  every  thing  that  he  ought.  And,  sirs, 
ye  may  show  the  king  your  master,  that  within  short  space 
the  king  of  England,  our  master,  shall  arrive  in  France,  and 
do  all  that  reason  shall  require."f  The  ambassadors  were 
then  well  entertained,  and  presented  with  "  many  great  gifts 
and  jewels."  On  both  sides  the  channel  this  was  considered 
a  business  of  great  importance.  The  king  of  France,  "  that 
he  might  appear  in  more  pomp,  and  to  the  intent  that  there 

*  Barnes,  34.  t  Froissart,  chap.  xxiv. 


200  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

might  be  more  notable  witnesses  of  the  homage  there  to  be 
done  to  his  own  person,"  as  also  "  to  dazzle  and  awe  the 
mind  of  the  young  king  with  the  number  and  greatness  of  his 
friends  and  allies,"  invited  his  cousin  John  of  Luxemburgh, 
king  of  Bohemia,  and  the  kings  of  Navarre  and  Majorca,  to 
be  present.  There  were  present  also  the  dukes  of  Burgundy, 
Bourbon,  and  Lorraine,  "  with  all  the  peers,  earls,  barons, 
and  chief  lords  of  France," — provision  being  made  for  1000 
"  horse-strangers,"  besides  600  horse  who  were  e-xpected  in 
the  king  of  England's  train.  Young  Edward,  however,  had 
a  larger  retinue ;  for  on  his  part  it  was  considered  a  matter 
of  policy  that  there  should  be  a  display  of  the  wealth  and 
strength  of  England.  A  thousand  horse  accompanied  htm, 
more  than  forty  knights,  the  chief  nobility,  and  the  bishops 
of  London,  Winchester,  and  Lincoln — all  three  "  right  politic 
prelates."  He  was  two  days  on  the  passage  from  Dover  to 
Whitsand  ;  and  liaving  rested,  after  so  wearisome  a  crossing, 
one  day  at  Boulogne,  was  met  at  Montreuil  by  the  constable 
of  France,  whom  Philip  had  despatched  with  a  good  com- 
pany of  lords  and  knights  to  welcome  him,  in  his  name, 
with  high  expressions  of  respect;  "  for  the  French,"  says 
the  painstaking  historian  of  this  eventful  reign,  "  are  a 
wonderful  free  and  civil  people,  when  they  design  to  do 
honour  to  any  person."  Amiens  was  the  place  appointed 
for  the  ceremony.  There  he  was  welcomed  by  Philip,  the 
three  other  kings,  the  dukes,  earls,  and  barons,  and  the 
eleven  peers  of  France  (he  being  himself  the  twelfth),  who 
were  all  assembled  there,  apparently  to  do  him  honour,  but 
more  truly  with  the  intention  of  bearing  witness  to  the  act 
of  homage.  During  fifteen  days  he  was  entertained  with 
great  royaltj' ;  many  things,  meantime,  relating  to  the  present 
business  being  canvassed  and  discussed.* 

On  the  day  appointed,  young  Edward  was  ushered  into 
the  cathedral  of  Amiens,  there  to  perform  the  ceremony.  He 
wore  a  long  robe  of  crimson  velvet,  powdered  with  leopard* 
of  gold  ;  his  crown  was  on  his  head,  his  sword  by  his  side, 
and  his  spurs  of  gold  on  his  heels.  King  Philip  sate  ready 
to  receive  him,  on  his  royal  throne,  in  a  robe  of  violet  colour- 
ed velvet,  powdered  with  fleur-de-lis  of  gold,  his  crown  on 
his  head,  his  sceptre  in  his  hand,  with  other  ensigns  of 
majesty,  and  with  his  state  attendants.  An  air  of  superiority 
was  assumed,  which  roused  the  young  Plantagenet's  blood  : 
he  had  come  prepared  to  do  all  that  policy  should  have  re- 
quired, or  courtesy  permitted ;  but,  suspecting  now  that  more 

»  Barnes,  35. 


DISPUTE  RESPECTING  HOMAGE.  201 

would  be  demanded,  boy  as  he  was,  he  took  his  resolution 
with  equal  promptitude  and  prudence,  and  bending'  his  body 
a  little  towards  the  throne,  spake  with  a  firm  voice  to  this 
effect : — "  I,  Edward,  by  the  grace  of  God,  king  of  England, 
lord  of  Ireland,  and  duke  of  Aquitaine,  hereby  do  homage  to 
thee,  Philip,  king  of  France,  to  hold  the  dutchy  of  Guienne 
as  duke  thereof,  and  the  earldom  of  Ponthieu  and  Monstreul 
as  earl  thereof,  and  as  peer  of  France,  in  like  manner  as  my 
predecessors  did  homage  for  the  said  dukedom  and  earldom  to 
thy  predecessors."  However  Philip  might  be  displeased  at 
this  disappointment  of  his  confident  expectations,  he  dissem- 
bled his  feeling,  and  told  his  chancellor  to  inform  the  king  his 
cousin,  that  the  manner  of  his  predecessors  in  performing 
homage  was,  "  putting  off  the  crown,  and  laying  aside  both 
sword  and  spurs,  to  do  it  kneeling,  with  their  hands  between 
the  king  of  France's  knees,  or  his  great  chsmiberlain's  hands  ; 
and  that  this  they  were  always  to  do,  either  in  person,  or  by 
sufficient  proxy  of  some  high  prince  or  prelate,  then  and 
there  promising  faith  and  homage  to  the  king  of  France,  as 
to  their  sovereign  lord,  of  whom  they  held  those  lands  and 
honours."  Edward  would  not  submit  to  this;  he  said  they 
could  show  him  no  precedent  for  one  crowned  head  so  to 
humble  himself  before  another.  And  when  they  produced 
records  to  establish  their  point,  he  refused  to  be  convinced 
by  that  evidence,  and  said  he  would  proceed  no  farther  till  he 
should  have  consulted  his  own  records ;  then,  if  he  should 
find  therein  that  any  thing  more  had  been  done  than  what  he 
had  performed,  he  would  acknowledge  it  by  his  letters-patent 
to  the  French  king.  Philip,  with  proper  courtesy  and  self- 
command,  replied, — "  Fair  cousin  of  England,  we  will  not 
here  be  thought  desirous  of  imposing  any  thing  upon  you 
against  right  and  equity  ;  what  you  have  done  sufficeth  for 
the  present,  so  that  upon  your  return,  when  you  have  con- 
sulted your  own  records,  and  seen  what  your  predecessors 
have  done  on  like  occasions,  you  will  send  unto  us  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  same  under  your  broad  seal."* 

The  assembly  broke  up  with  appearances  of  friendship  on 
both  sides ;  but  Philip  is  said  to  have  revolved  deeply  in  his 
mind  this  affront  put  upon  him  when  he  had  looked  for  such 
high  honour;  and,  reflecting  in  that  mood  upon  Edward's  pre- 
tensions to  the  succession,  it  is  also  affirmed  that  he  devised 
how  to  seize  his  person,  and  detain  him  till  he  should  have 
made  his  own  conditions  with  him.  Any  thing  of  bad  faith, 
any  thing  that  is  dishonourable,  perfidious,  and  inhuman, 
may  be  believed  of  the  age  of  chivalry,  when  we  look  at  its 
*  Barnes,  30. 


202  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

djirk  side.  This  would  have  been  a  slight  offence  in  the 
iniquitous  policy  of  those  times.  The  bishop  of  Lincoln  is 
supposed  to  have  discovered  or  suspected  the  design ;  and 
Edward,  in  consequence,  hastily  departed,  and  came  safely 
to  England,  but  bringing  home  a  sting  with  him  as  if  his 
honour  had  been  wounded  ;  a  feeling  which,  when  it  was 
inflamed  by  actual  wrongs,  did  not  let  him  rest  till  he  had 
given  it  its  full  course.  Ambassadors  were  soon  sent  after 
him,  to  press  the  performance  of  that  more  particular  ac- 
knowledgment which  he  had  promised.  The  records  were 
examined  ;  and  the  king  and  his  council  saw  that  things  had 
indeed  been  of  old  so  performed,  as  they  now  were  demand- 
ed to  be  done.  Many  of  the  barons  could  not  brook  this, 
and  would  rather  the  king  of  England  should  at  once  ad- 
vance his  claim  to  the  crown  of  France,  of  the  validity  of 
which  they  had  fully  persuaded  themselves,  than  that  he 
should  demean  himself  by  a  form  of  homage  so  derogatory 
from  his  own  dignity.  But  Edward's  council  were  too  wary 
to  venture  on  this  course  in  the  then  state  of  their  own  coun- 
try ;  and  Edward,  however  aspiring  in  his  desires  and  hopes, 
was  prudent  beyond  his  years,  and  waited  patiently,  or  impa- 
tiently, not  only  "  till  he  had  better  weighed  his  own  strength, 
and  sounded  his  friends  and  allies,"  but  till  such  provoca- 
tion had  been  given,  that  policy  seemed  to  justify  what  am- 
bition prompted.  Yet  he  was  not  easily  persuaded  to  make 
what,  to  him,  appeared  a  humiliating  acknowledgment ;  and 
the  French  ambassadors  were  kept  in  England  through  the 
winter,  and  far  into  the  spring,  before  they  were  despatched 
with  his  letters-patent,  sealed  with  the  broad  seal.  All  that 
had  been  demanded  was  not  acknowledged  in  these  letters. 
An  acknowledgment  that  the  homage  should  be  performed 
bareheaded  and  ungirt  seems  studiously  to  have  been  avoid- 
ed ;  and  if  this  was  implied  in  the  general  admission  that 
the  homage  which  he  had  made  at  Amiens  was,  and  ought 
to  be,  intended  liege,  care  was  taken  to  guard  against  such 
an  implication  by  inserting  these  words  : — "  And  to  the  in- 
tent that  hereafter  should  arise  no  difference  for  this  cause, 
we  promise,  for  us  and  our  successors,  as  duke  of  Aquitaine, 
that  this  homage  shall  be  made  in  this  manner :  the  king  of 
England,  duke  of  Aquitaine,  shall  hold  his  hands  between 
the  hands  of  the  king  of  France,  and  he  that  is  to  speak  for 
the  king  of  France  shall  say  thus : — '  You  become  liegeman  to 
our  lord  the  king,  here  present,  as  duke  of  Guienne  and  peer 
of  France,  and  you  promise  to  bear  to  him  faith  and  loyalty  ? 
Say,  Fes.'  And  the  king  of  England,  duke  of  Aquitaine, 
and  successors,  shall  say,  Yes.    And  then  the  king  of  France 


POLICY  OF  PHILIP  AND  EDWARD  III.  203 

shall  receive  the  szud  king  of  England  and  duke  of  Guienne 
to  the  said  homage  liege,  with  faith  and  troth,  by  word  of 
mouth,  saving  his  own  riglit,  and  all  others."  The  same 
form  was  repeated  for  the  earldom  of  Ponthieu  and  Mon- 
streul,  "  and  thus  it  shall  be  done  and  received  as  often  as 
the  said  homage  shall  be*done."  The  letters  ended  with 
promising  in  good  faith  to  hold  and  keep  entirely  the  peace 
and  accord  made  between  the  kings  of  France  and  the  kings 
of  England,  dukes  of  Guienne. 

It  was  little  apprehended,  at  Edward's  birth,  that  death 
would  open  for  him  a  claim  on  the  French  crown.  The 
then  king  of  France  wished  him  to  be  called  Philip,  after 
the  queen's  father,  as  if  to  denote  his  French  descent,  but 
against  this  motion  the  English  nobility  prevailed;*  Ed- 
ward being  to  English  ears  a  popular  name,  probably  not 
so  much  in  reference  to  Edward  Longshanks,  who  was  rather 
feared  than  loved,  as  because  of  the  holiness  imputed  to  the 
Confessor,  and  the  supposed  excellence  of  his  laws.  Glad 
would  the  French  king  now  have  been,  if  Edward  had 
sprung  from  any  other  maternal  stock ;  for  the  Salic  law, 
more  reasonable  in  appearance  than  in  reality,  was  not  yet 
so  clearly  established  as  to  render  the  English  king's  claim 
by  any  means  futile,  especially  when  advanced  by  one  who 
was  likely  to  have  both  the  inclination  and  the  power  to 
urge  it.  A  slight  acquaintance  with  history  suffices  to  show 
with  how  little  probity  nations  have  in  all  ages  acted  towards 
each  other.  But  when  they  proceed  to  extremities,  then,  in 
the  anxiety  which  each  party  manifests  to  cast  the  reproach  of 
unfaithfulness  upon  the  other,  when  both  have  been  equally 
faithless,  a  sense  of  the  shame  at  least  is  acknowledged,  if 
not  of  the  sin. |  The  secret  protest  whereby  Edward  salved 
his  conscience  while  it  was  yet  unseared,  proves  that  he 
had  inwardly  resolved  upon  supporting  his  claim  by  arms, 
whenever  opportunity  might  favour  him  :  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  by  a  policy  little  less  reprehensible,  the  king  of  France, 
though  bound  by  treaty  towards  England,  continually  afford- 
ed assistance  to  the  Scotch  ;  by  such  means  fomenting  a  war 

*  Barnes,  I. 

t  fMward  felt  and  acknowledged  that  his  conduct  at  this  time  had  not 
been  consistent  with  the  dignity  and  openness  of  his  character.  In  his 
letter,  A.  D.  1346,  "De  causA  guerrae  contra  Philippum  de  Valesio,  clero  et 
populo  exponenda,"  he  says,  "Sane,  cum  arl  majorem  a-tatcm  esseraus  pro- 
vecti,  metuentes  grave  nobis  posse  pra?judicium  generari,si  dissimulassemus 
ulteriiisde  immiscendo  nos  hiereditati  nostrse  prsedictir,  omnia  et  singula,  si 
quee  per  imbecillitatem  et  simplicitatem  minoris  eetatis  possimus  dici  fecisse, 
nobis  prsjudicialia  in  hac  parte,  statim.quatenQsde  facto  processerunt  cum 
de  Jure  non  tenuerunt,  revocavimua  efiectualiter  et  express^."— /?ym«r, 
torn.  iii.  part  i.  p.  7i. 


204  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

which  he  thought  would  give  sufficient  occupation  to  a  young 
and  aspiring  prince.  He  used  to  say,  there  could  never  be 
perfect  peace  and  quietness  in  Christendom, — meaning  se- 
curity for  France  against  this  country, — till  the  king  of 
France  should  act  as  umpire  between  the  realms  of  Scotland 
and  England.* 

,  nnp  This  was  a  mode  of  hostility  which  could  not  long 
'  be  carried  on  without  being  discovered  ;  and  which, 
when  discovered,  could  pass  unnoticed  only  while  there  was 
no  power  of  resenting  it.  Upon  sure  information  that  the 
Scotch,  with  the  aid  of  adventurers  from  all  countries,— 
outlaws  they  were  called,  men  who  were  ready  to  serve  in 
any  cause,  for  pay  and  for  plunder, — were  fitting  out  ships 
at  Calais,  from  which  port  they  infested  the  English  seas, 
and  now  threatened  more  serious  operations,  Edward  gave 
orders  for  equipping  a  fleet  against  them  ;f  and  the  French, 
who  saw  that  open  war  could  not  long  be  averted,  and 
thought  they  could  at  this  time  begin  it  to  advantage,  in- 
vaded Gsiscony,  and  sent  six-and-twenty  galleys,  with  other 
ships  of  war,  to  infest  the  coast  of  England,  and  aid  their 
allies  in  Scotland.  Upon  this,  Edward  issued  a  commission 
to  his  admirals,  lord  Geoffery  Say,  of  the  southern  and 
western  sea,  and  lord  John  Norwich,  of  the  northern  sea,  to 
collect  their  force,  and  go  in  search  of  the  enemy.  The  words 
of  the  commission  are  remarkable.  "  Calling  to  mind,"  the 
king  said,  "that  our  progenitors  the  kings  of  England  have 
heretofore  been  lords  of  the  English  sea  on  every  side,  yea, 
the  defenders  thereof  against  the  encroachments  of  enemies; 
and  seeing  it  would  greatly  grieve  us,  if  in  this  kind  of  de- 
fence our  royal  honour  should  (which  God  forbid  !)  be  lost, 
or  in  any  way  diminished,  in  our  time ;  and  desiring,  with 
the  help  of  God,  to  prevent  all  dangers  of  this  nature,  to  pro- 
vide for  the  safeguard  and  defence  of  our  realm  and  subjects, 
and  to  restrain  the  malice  of  our  enemies  ;  we  do  strictly  re- 
quire and  charge  you,  by  the  duty  and  allegiance  wherein 
you  stand  bound  unto  us,  according  to  the  special  trust  re- 
posed in  you,  that,  with  all  diligence  you  make  search  after 
the  galleys  and  other  ships  of  war  abroad  against  us  ;  and 
stoutly  and  manfully  set  upon  them,  if  they  should  presume 
to  bend  their  course  towards  the  ports  of  our  dominions,  or 
the  coasts  of  Scotland.  And  if  they  steal  away  from  you, 
then  you  are  without  any  delay  to  follow  after  them,  and 

*  Barnes,  93.    On  the  other  hand,  the  English  had  the  maxim, 
"  He  that  the  realm  of  France  would  win. 
Must  with  Scotland  first  begin." 
tttymer,  vol.  ii.part  ii.  p.  911. 


EDWARD  III.  PREPARES  FOR  WAR.  205 

them  courageously  to  destroy,  for  the  conservation  of  our 
Toyal  honour."  An  injunction  followed,  that  no  hurt  should 
be  done  to  merchants  and  others  passing  by  sea,  who  had  no 
intent  either  to  offend  the  English  or  to  succour  their  ene- 
mies ;  and  a  power  was  given  for  impressing  seamen.* 

Several  ships  belonging  to  the  Cinque-ports  were  taken 
up  at  Bristol,  by  virtue  of  this  proclamation  :  but  though 
Bristol  had  long  been  a  considerable  port,  there  were  no 
stores  there  for  fitting  them  out  as  ships  of  war ;  and  leave 
was  therefore  given,  upon  due  security,  that  they  should  re- 
turn home,  there  to  be  equipped  for  the  public  service.t 
The  old  feud  between  the  seamen  of  the  Cinque-ports  and 
Yarmouth  still  subsisted ;  and  there  was  reason  to  appre- 
hend that,  as  on  a  former  occasion,  this  might  break  out  into 
a  private  war,  even  upon  the  enemy's  coast.  To  guard 
against  this  danger,  delegates  from  both  parties  were  or- 
dered to  repair  before  the  primate,  the  chancellor,  and  others 
of  the  king's  counsel,  and  there  adjust  their  differences,  on 
pain  of  forfeiting  all  that  could  be  forfeited  ;%  for,  unless  this 
peace  were  made,  there  was  little  hope  of  acting  against  the 
French  with  effect.  The  ships  from  the  western  ports  were 
ordered  to  rendezvous  at  Portsmouth ;  those  from  the  east, 
in  the  Orwell.  Complaint  was  made  to  the  Sicilian  court, 
that  galleys  were  fitted  out  in  that  island  for  the  Scotch, 
under  pretence  of  being  intended  for  the  holy  war ;  and  the 
Genoese  were  thanked  for  having  impeded  a  preparation  of 
the  same  kind :  the  Scotch  were  also  seeking  to  obtain 
ships  in  Norway .§  But  neither  was  England  provided,  at 
that  time,  with  a  naval  force  sufficient  for  the  emergency ;  and 
galleys  and  ships  fitted  for  transporting  horses||  were  pro- 
cured from  Genoa.  Edward  had  at  this  time  a  willing  par- 
liament and  a  willing  people.  Large  grants  were  granted 
for  a  war  which  now  appeared  to  be  inevitable,  and  in  which 
it  was  felt  that  the  honour  of  the  nation  was  concerned  ;  a 
consideration  to  which  nations  used  ever  to  be  more  alive 
than  to  their  mere  interests, — for  this,  among  other  just  rea- 
sons, that  it  was  what  they  could  better  understand.  Liberal 
grants  were  made ;  the  money  which  had  been  collected  for 
a  crusade,  and  deposited  in  the  cathedrals,  was  given  by  the 

*  Barnes,  103.  t  Rymer,  vol.  ii.  part  ii.  p.  933. 

I  "  Sub  forcsfacturA  omnium  qux  nobis  forisfaccre  poteritis." — Rymer 
vol.  ii.  part  ii.  p.  943. 

§  Ibid.  950. 

I  Usceria.  Utceri.  Italian.  IJuisserie,  French.  Door-ship  is  Cotgrave's 
interpretation.  They  were,  probably,  in  supposed  imitation  of  the  ark 
with  doors  in  the  sides.— Rymer,  947. 

Vol.  L  S 


206  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

clergy  of  their  own  accord,  for  this  as  for  a  nearer  and  more 
pressing  duty ;  and  much  of  the  church  plate  is  said  to  have 
been  taken  also  by  the  king's  authority. 
,007  Negotiations  for  the  adjustment  of  existing  difFer- 
*  ences  were  still  going  on  in  France :  notwithstand- 
ing which,  Philip  aided  the  then  exiled  king  of  Scotland, 
David  Bruce,  with  a  well-appointed  fleet,  in  which  David 
embarked  himself,  and  with  which  he  inflicted  much  evil 
upon  the  isles  of  Guernsey  and  Jersey,  and  upon  the  Hamp- 
shire coast ;  and  with  this  the  covert  war  on  the  part  of 
France  ended.  The  Flemish  ports  were  of  great  conse- 
quence to  France ;  and  the  earl  of  that  country  was  wholly 
in  the  French  interest.  On  the  other  hand,  a  fierce  popular 
spirit  had  arisen  among  that  turbulent  people,  who  were,  in- 
deed, provoked  by  sufficient  wrongs ;  and  in  Jacob  van  Arte- 
veld,  the  brewer  of  Ghent,  the  most  famous*  demagogue  of 
the  middle  ages,  Edward  found  a  read)'  and  a  powerful  con- 
federate. The  French  and  the  Flemings  who  were  of  the 
party  of  the  earl,  Louis  de  Nevers,  took  possession  of  the 
isle  of  Cadsant,  occupied  it  with  a  strong  garrison,  and  from 
thence  infested  the  seas.  They  hoped  to  intercept  the  Eng- 
lish ambassadors  on  their  way  home  from  Hainault.  A  con- 
voy, therefore,  of  forty  "  stout  ships,  well-manned,  was  sent 
to  wait  for  the  ambassadors  at  Dordrecht.  This  service  they 
performed  safely ;  and  on  their  return  captured  two  Flemish 
men  of  war,  with  many  Scotch  of  high  rank  on  board,  and 
15,000/.  in  gold  and  silver,  sent  by  France  to  her  allies  in 
Scotland.  The  bishop  of  Glasgow  weis  with  this  party.  By 
chance  he  was  slightly  hurt  in  the  head,  and  being  brought 
into  Sandwich,  soon  died,  through  that  and  his  grief  to- 
gether."! ' 

When  the  ambassador  represented  to  the  king  the  mis- 
chief which  was  done  by  the  garrison  in  Cadsant,  Edward 
replied,  that  he  would  speedily  provide  a  remedy.  Forth- 
with the  admiral  of  the  northern  ports,  sir  Walter  de  Manny, 
was  ordered,  wherever  he  could  find  the  enemy,  whether  at 
sea  or  in  any  harbour,  manfiilly  to  attack  and  more  manfully 
to  vanquish  them.:}:  Henry  Plantagenet,  earl  of  Derby,  and 
the  lord  Reginald  Cobham,  the  earl  of  SuflTolk,  lord  Robert 
Hufford,  the  lords  Robert  Bourchier,  John  Norwich,  and  Wil- 

*  His  son  Philip  belongs  to  a  far  higher  class.  He  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
heroic,  certainly  the  most  tragic,  character  in  the  history  of  those  times. 

t  Barnes,  106.    Froissart,  chap.  xxx. 

X  "  JDictos  hostes  nostros,  sive  in  mari,  sive  in  portubua,  lit  eos  invenire 
poteritis,  viriliter  aggrediamini,  et  viriliua  expiignelis."— /fymsr,  vol.  ii 
part  li.  p.  1005. 


BATTLE  OF  CADSAXT.  207 

liam  Beauchamp,  with  600  men-at-arms,  and  2000  archers, 
embarked  in  this  fleet  at  London.  "  The  first  tide  they  went 
to  Gravesend,  the  second  to  Margate,  and  with  the  third  they 
took  the  deep  sea,  and  made  directly  for  Flanders,"  with 
wind  and  tide  at  will ;  "  and  so,  being  come  before  Cadsant, 
they  prepared  themselves  for  battle,  and  having  placed  the 
archers  on  the  decks  before  them,  in  the  name  of  God  and 
St.  George  they  sounded  their  trumpets,  and  sailed  toward 
the  town."  Cadsant  was  then  a  much  larger  island  than  it 
now  is ;  great  part  of  it  having  either  been  made  by  the 
irruption  of  the  water,  what  in  that  country  is  called  drown- 
ed land,  or  worn  away  by  the  continued  action  of  the  tide.* 
At  that  time  human  industry  had  rescued  more  from  the  sea 
than  the  sea  had  taken  from  man  ;  and  the  land  repaid  with 
large  increase|  the  labour  which  was  bestowed  upon  it; 
but  it  had  been  laid  waste  by  the  Zeelanders  some  thirty 
years  before,:^:  when  they  burnt  the  town  of  Sluys.  The 
force  now  in  the  island  consisted  of  5000  soldiers,  knights 
and  squires,  with  their  retinues,  besides  the  inhabitants,  most 
of  whom,  and  of  the  people  of  Damme,  were  engaged  in 
the  defence  ;  the  latter,  perhaps,  remembering  the  ill-treat- 
ment they  had  received  in  Edward  I.'s  time ;  the  former, 
whatever  their  inclination  may  have  been  between  the  parties 
who  thus  invaded  Flanders,  looking  upon  any  invaders  (and 
well  they  might)  as  enemies.  They  were  commanded  by 
the  lord  of  Richebourg,  Guy,  known  by  the  little  honourable, 
but  in  those  days  not  opprobrious,  appellation  of  the  bastard 
of  Flanders,  being  an  illegitimate  son  or  brother  to  the 
reigning  earl.§ 

The  men  in  Cadsant  saw  the  English  armament  approach, 
and  knew  well  who  they  were,  and  with  what  intent  they 
came  ;  but,  like  good  warriors,  they  ranged  themselves  along 
by  the  dikes  on  the  sands,  with  their  banners  waving  before 
them.  Sixteen  "  valiant  gentlemen"  were,  for  encourage- 
ment, then  and  there  made  knights.  That  honour,  was  often, 
in  the  age  of  chivalry,  conferred  before  a  battle  as  an  excite- 

*  Saoderi,  Flandria,  torn.  ii.  p.  209. 

t  It  IS  still  singularly  fertile,  and  produces  the  best  wheat.  In  Buscbing's 
time,  a  large  proimrtioii  of  the  inhabitants  were  French  refupees  and  Saltz- 
burghers,  driven  from  their  own  country  for  a  like  cause,  with  equal  injus- 
tice, but  not  with  equal  barbarity. 

I  Sueyro,  i.  331.  There  is  a  most  spirited  description  of  this  In  the  Rijm 
kronijk  of  Mells  Stoke,  book  iv.  v.  910.  1003.  "  Ad  hanc  insniam,"  says 
Lud.Guicriardini,  "  variBqiiondam  commissse  navalespugnie,  concurrebant 
enim  et  stabulabantur  hie  ut  plurimuutomnes  Flandrorum  liostes.  Augli 
puta,  Hollandi,  et  aliie  nationes." 

§  Barnes,  116.    Sueyro,  i.  448. 


208  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

ment;  the  possibility  being,  perhaps,  borne  in  mind,  that 
some  of  those  who  deserved  it  might  not  survive  to  receive  it 
as  a  reward ;  and  that,  in  such  cases,  the  empty  title  would 
be  some  satisfaction  to  their  friends,  and  add  some  honour 
to  a  monument.  Sir  Guy  the  bastard  was  an  expert  and 
hardy  captain,  alike  able  to  encourage  his  people,  first  by 
exhortation,  and  then  by  example ;  and  the  one  party  was 
not  more  manfully  resolved  to  assail,  than  the  other  was 
resolutely  bent  to  defend. 

But  when  the  English  archers,  witli  a  great  shout,  began 
all  at  one  instant  to  send  among  them  a  thick  flight  of  deadly 
arrows,  they  that  kept  the  shore  recoiled  in  dismay,  leaving 
many  dead,  but  very  many  more  grievously  wounded ;  yet, 
when  the  eissailants  landed  in  good  order,  and  came  to  handy- 
strokes,  they  presently  rallied,  and  bravely  disputed  the 
ground.  Henry  Plantagenet,  pressing  forward  with  that 
spirit  which  was  never  wanting  in  his  royal  blood,  was 
beaten  down  in  the  press ;  and,  though  unhurt,  being  cased 
in  complete  mail,  was,  because  of  the  armour  that  protected 
him,  unable  to  rise.  But  sir  Walter  Manny,  who  was  near 
enough  to  see  him  fall,  made  for  the  spot ;  and,  encouraging 
his  men  to  the  rescue  by  crying  aloud  "  Lancaster  for  the 
earl  of  Derby  I"  he  laid  about  with  his  battleaxe,  cleared 
the  place  by  fine  force,  raised  him  from  the  ground,  and  set 
him  again  SEife  at  the  head  of  his  own  people.  L'  pon  this 
rescue  both  powers  joined  with  greater  animosity  than  be- 
fore ;  each  encouraged  by  its  own  success,  and  provoked  by 
what  the  other  had  obtained.  "  The  battle,"  says  Joshua 
Barnes,  "  was  surely  fought  on  both  hands  very  well ;  for 
the  Flemings  were  chosen  men,  and  the  English  resolved 
not  to  part  stakes  by  any  means,  but  to  win  all  at  their  first 
setting  out,  or  perish.  Many,  therefore,  were  slain  on  both 
sides.  But  all  the  while  the  archers  of  England,  flanking 
their  men-at-arms,  shot  with  such  violence,  and  so  wholly 
together,  that  they  were  not  to  be  endured."*  To  them, 
indeed,  the  victory  was  chiefly  ascribed.  The  bastard  of 
Flanders  was  taken  prisoner.  Among  the  slain  were  some 
of  the  first  nobles  in  the  country,  and  six-and-thirty  knights 
and  esquires,  besides  some  of  those  who,  in  the  pride  of 
youth  and  courage,  had  that  day  received  their  knighthood. 
More  than  3000  fell,  either  in  the  field  or  in  the  streets  and 
houses  ;  and  as  many  more  of  the  islanders  perished  in  the 
church,  into  which  they  had  fled  for  safety ;  for  the  Welsh 

*  "  No  puclieron  resistir  a  los  ballasteros  Ingleses,  pro  no  estar  aun 
acostiimbrados  aquel  mode  de  pelear."— Sueyro,  i.  448.  But  this  author 
ascribes  to  the  arbalist  what  was  doue  by  the  longbow. 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE.  209 

who-  were  in  the  expedition  set  fire  to  it.  The  town  was 
taken,  plundered,  and  burnt ;  and  the  conquerors,  who  had 
suffered  no  considerable  loss,  though  it  had  been  a  sore  bat- 
tle, and  well  fought  hand  to  hand,  returned  to  England  with 
much  prey  and  many  prisoners.  The  bastard  of  Flanders 
received  from  Edward  the  most  liberal  treatment,  "  for  he 
was  a  valiant  man ;"  his  oath  was  taken  that  he  would  con- 
tinue "  true  prisoner,"  and'  then  he  was  subjected  to  no  re- 
straint :  but  he  was  so  won  with  the  king's  generosity,  that, 
in  the  course  of  the  year,  of  his  own  accord,  "  he  became 
English ;"  that  is,  he  came  liegeman  to  the  king  of  England, 
and  did  homage  to  him  as  one  who  heartily  embraced  his 
service.  Sir  Walter  Manny,  it  is  said,  might  have  had 
11,000/.  for  his  ransom  and  that  of  the  other  prisoners ;  but, 
after  two  years  the  king  gave  him  8000/.*  Good  prisoners, 
in  those  days,  were  the  best  prizes  that  war  afforded  ;  and 
this  led  sometimes  to  the  greatest  cruelty,  and  sometimes  to 
the  greatest  courtesy  and  magnanimity,  according  to  the 
different  tempers  of  the  captors ;  but  the  evil  effect,  it  can- 
not be  doubted,  must  have  been  far  more  frequent  than  the 
good. 

Though  this  loss  had  fallen  wholly  upon  the  Flemings,  it 
was  far  from  producing  any  ill  effect  upon  the  English 
interests  in  Flanders.  The  popular  party  said,  that  the  suf- 
ferers deserved  what  they  had  brought  upon  themselves; 
seeing  that,  without  the  consent  of  the  good  towns,  and 
against  their  will,  they  had  kept  a  garrison  there,  to  act 
against  their  friends  the  English.  Arteveld  was  well  pleased 
with  what  had  happened,  and  earnestly  invited  Edward  to 
come  over,  saying  that  the  people  greatly  desired  to  see 
him.f  England  had  counted  too  confidently  on  the  good- 
will of  the  Genoese,  when  Edward  thanked  that  government 
for  obstructing  the  preparations  of  his  enemies  in  their  ports. 
At  this  time  Philip  was  infesting  the  coasts  of  Aquitaine 
with  ships  which  he  had  hired  from  the  Ghibelines  of  Genoa, 
it  is  said,  and  from  the  Guelfs  of  Monaco.:^:  Philip  had  been 
arming,  ostensibly  for  a  crusade  upon  a  greater  scale  than 
any  former  one.  Into  this  channel  the  pope  would  fain  have 
diverted  that  martial  spirit  which,  if  not  so  directed,  would, 
it  was  but  too  evident,  set  Europe  in  flames  :  and  the  object 
was  so  tempting  to  an  ardent  and  ambitious  mind,  that  Ed- 
ward would  have  engaged  in  it,  if  the  king  of  France  would 
have  restored  the  possessions  which  he  had  taken  from  him 

♦  Froissart,  chap.  xxxi.    Uolinshcd,  ii.  607.    Barnes,  116, 117. 
t  Froissart,  chap,  xxxii.  t  Barnes,  117.    Folieta  quoted. 

S2 


210  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

in  Gascony,  or  have  pledged  himself  to  restore  them -after 
his  return.*  But  Philip  was  bent  upon  retaining  what  he 
had  taken ;  feeling  himself,  at  this  time,  superior  to  the  king 
of  England  both  in  resources  and  in  policy.  The  English 
entered  eagerly  into  the  war,  and  enabled  their  enterprising 
and  popular  prince  to  subsidize  as  many  of  the  inferior 
powers  as  could  be  induced  to  league  with  him.  One  year 
passed,  before  these  allies  could  be  brought  into  the  field :  in 
the  second,  two  of  the  subsidized  counts  withdrew  with  their 
forces  as  soon  as  he  approached  the  frontiers  of  France ;  and 
though  the  French  and  English  armies  lay,  during  several 
weeks,  within  a  few  leagues  of  each  other,  and  even  faced 
each  other  in  the  field,  no  battle  ensued.  The  defection  of 
his  allies  had  made  Edward  too  weak  for  attacking  the 
enemy,  and  Philip  was  too  prudent  to  put  any  thing  upon 
the  hazard ;  knowing  that  his  opponent  must  at  length  retire 
into  winter-quarters,  and  was,  meantime,  dissipating  trea- 
sures which  could  not  be  easily  supplied. 

Edward  had,  indeed,  already  pawned  his  crown  and  his 
queen's  jewels ;  the  war  had  hitherto  proved  gainful  to  those 
only  who  received  his  subsidies;  and  two  years  of  apparent 
inaction,  or  useless  demonstrations,  had  cooled  the  English 
people,  who  were  also  alarmed,  and  not  without  reason,  for 
their  own  shores.  In  Surrey  and  Sussex,  the  people  refused 
to  pay  the  imposts  levied  for  the  defence  of  the  sea-coast  if 
the  government,  however,  was  strong  enough  to  enforce 
obedience.  The  king's  purveyors  were  forbidden  to  draw 
any  provisions  from  the  country  within  twelve  leagues  of 
the  coast,  lest  the  military  array  which  had  been  ordered 
thither  for  its  protection  should  be  compelled  to  disband  for 
want  of  food  ;:f  and  no  archers  were  to  be  drafted  from  the 
same  tract,  their  service  being  required  on  the  spot.§  These 
precautions  did  not  secure  the  south  coast  from  insult  and 
serious  injury.  The  enemy  attacked  and  burned  Ports- 
,  oqn  mouth  ;  which  town  was,  in  consequence,  exempted 
from  the  payment  of  tenths  for  three  years.||  London 
itself,  which,  since  the  accession  of  Canute,  had  feared  no 
maritime  enemy,  was  threatened,  and  so  far  deemed  in  dan- 
ger, that  orders  were  given  for  fortifying  it  with  stone  ram- 
parts, or  with  palisades  on  the  sides  of  the  river,  and  for 
driving  piles  into  its  bed ;  the  enemy,  it  was  said,  having 
brought  together  their  galleys  in  no  small  number :  all  per- 
sons having  any  share  in  the  city,  religioners  not  excepted, 

*  Barnes,  91,  118.  f  Rymer,  vol.  ii.  part  ii.  p.  1025.  |  Ibid. 

§  Rymfr,  vol.  ii.  part  ii.  p.  1026.  1|  Ibid.  1042. 


PLYMOUTH  BURNT.  211 

were  called  upon  to  contribute  to  this  work.*  A  prudent 
order  was  given,  that  in  the  churches  along  the  coast  not 
more  than  one  bell  should  be  rung  on  Sundays  or  other 
holydays,  nor,  on  any  occasion,  except  when  the  alarm  was 
to  be  given  against  an  enemy,  and  then  all  the  steeples  were 
to  speak. f 

These  were  not  needless  precautions ;  for  Philip  had  set 
forth  a  mighty  fleet  from  his  own  ports,  with  the  aid  of  his 
allies  the  Bretons,  and  with  assistance  also  from  Spain ;  and 
their  instructions  were  to  land,  wheresoever  they  could  to 
advantage,  and  put  all  to  fire  and  sword.  Sir  Hugh  Quirial, 
sir  Pierre  Bahuchet,  and  sir  Nicholas  Barbenoire  were  the 
joint  admirals  of  this  fleet;  which  scoured  the  seas  in  seve- 
ral squadrons.  One  detachment,  consisting  of  thirteen  ves- 
sels great  and  small,  fell  in  with  two  fair  and  goodly  ships 
of  England,  bringing  home  goods  and  money  which  had 
been  received  in  exchange  for  wool  in  Flanders.  These 
ships  were  named  the  Edward  and  the  Christopher, — names 
which,  in  remembrance  of  that  day,  ought  to  have  been  per- 
petuated in  the  English  navy.  Two  lesser  barks  and  a 
caravel  were  in  company  with  them ;  and  these,  "  being 
unfit  for  fight,"  made  off  and  escaped  by  their  swift  sailing; 
but  the  Edward  and  the  Christopher  "  stood  stiflly  to  their 
tackling,"  against  a  force  exceeding  them  so  greatly  in  num- 
bers and  in  men,  and  all  being  ships  of  war.  They  main- 
tained the  action  for  nine  hours ;  and  then,  "  wearied  with 
labour,  wounds,  and  slaughter,"  and  after  a  loss  of  600  men 
on  both  parts,  both  were  taken,  and  most  of  the  wounded 
English  thrown  overboard. :(:  The  Frenchmen  now  "sore 
troubled  this  realm  by  sea,  especially  where  the  champain 
countries  stretch  towards  the  sea-coast."  They  landed  at 
Hastings  on  the  feast  of  Corpus  Christi,  and  there  burnt 
some  houses,  and  slew  some  people.  In  the  harbours  of 
Devonshire  and  Cornwall,  and  high  up  the  Bristol  Channel, 
they  took  and  burnt  ships,  killing  the  mariners  who  fell  into 
their  hands.  They  landed  at  Plymouth,  and  burnt  the 
greater  part  of  the  town  :  but  there  the  earl  of  Devonshire, 
sir  Hugh  Courtenay,  a  brave  old  man,  who  had  well-nigh 
reached  the  age  of  fourscore,  raised  the  men  of  the  country ; 
seeing  that  the  crossbows  of  the  French  did  some  execution 
among  them  at  a  distance,  he  closed  upon  them  without  loss 
of  time ;  and,  beating  many  of  them  down,  drove  the  others 
to  the  shore  and  into  the  water  (for  the  galleys  had  all  been 

*  Ryincr,  vol.  ii.  part  ii.  p.  1062.  t  IWd.  1067. 

I  Barnes,  136.    Holinslixl,  ii.  610.    Fabyan,  447. 


212  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  EXGLAKD. 

drawn  off,  and  were  standing  aloof),  and  about  600  are  said 
to  have  been  drowned."* 

Fifty  of  this  hostile  fleet,  having  many  Genoese  and  Spa- 
niards among  them,  ascended  the  Southampton  river,  and 
landed  at  that  town  on  a  Sunday  morning  at  nine  o'clock, 
while  the  people  were  at  church.  The  inhabitants,  being 
thus  taken  by  surprise,  fled,  they  who  could.  The  invaders 
then  proceeded  to  sack  the  place,  committing  every  kind  of 
enormity  upon  those  who  fell  into  their  hands,  and  destroy- 
ing what  they  could  not  carry  away  or  plunder.  "Those 
of  the  nobler  sort  whom  they  could  light  on,  they  hung  up 
in  their  own  houses,  and  at  their  departure  set  the  whole 
town  on  fire."  The  day  and  the  night  were  passed  in  these 
excesses  ;  but  on  the  morrow,  by  break  of  day,  before  they 
were  half  got  to  tlieir  ships,  sir  John  Arundel,  "  a  valiant 
gentleman  of  Hampshire,"  arrived  with  a  resolute  band  of 
brave  men,  and  with  those  townsmen  who  had  taken  flight 
on  the  yesterday,  and  who,  "  though  they  returned  too  late 
to  save  their  friends,  came  yet  soon  enough  to  revenge 
them."  Falling  upon  the  enemy,  while  incumbered  with 
their  spoil,  confused  in  their  haste  and  alarm,  and  many  of 
them,  perhaps,  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  they  slew  about 
500  on  the  spot.  Among  those  who  paid  with  their  lives 
for  the  outrages  committed  on  this  occasion,  is  one  who,  by 
our  chroniclers,  is  said  to  have  been  a  son  of  the  king  of 
Sicily.  A  rough  clown,  who  laid  about  him  with  a  flail 
like  a  madman,  beat  him  to  the  ground.  The  Sicilian,  not 
being  able  to  speak  a  word  of  English,  called  out  in  French, 
"  Ran^on  !  ran^on  !"  meaning,  that  he  desired  to  surrender, 
and  be  taken  to  ransom :  but  the  countryman,  nothing  un- 
derstanding either  his  French  or  his  coat-armour,  answered, 
"  I  know  thou  art  a  Frangon,  and  therefore  thou  shalt  die  ;" 
and  he  still  laid  on,  till  he  had  threshed  him  to  death.f  Here 
too,  as  at  Plymouth,  most  of  the  galleys  had  been  hauled 
off,  lest  the  English  should  board  them;  and  not  a  few  of 
fugitives  were  drowned  in  endeavouring  to  get  on  board.:): 
Upon  confident  information  that  the  enemy  designed  to  make 
another  descent  there,  the  government  issued  orders  for  forti- 
fying Southampton  on  the  water  side ;  and  whereas  many 
of  the  former  inhabitants  had  provided  for  their  own  security 
by  removing  from  the  place,  all  who  possessed  any  lands  or 
tenements  in  the  town  or  its  suburbs,  and  had  been  wont  to 

*  Holinshed,  ii.  609.    Barnes,  137. 

t  Stephen  Duck  ought  to  have  immortalised  this  man.  During  the  Hussite 
war,  the  flail  was  found  to  be  a  formidable  weapon  in  the  bands  of  resolute 
men.  I  Barnes,  137. 


THE  COAST  MADE  DEFENSIBLE.  213 

reside  there,  were  commanded  to  return  thither,  and  rebuild 
their  dwellings,  if  they  had  been  destroyed,  according  to 
their  means.  If  they  failed  in  doing  this,  or  delayed  to  do 
it,  the  lands  and  tenements  were  to  be  escheated  to  the  king, 
and  given  by  him  to  those  who  were  willing  to  dwell  there : 
so  far  was  the  principle  of  compulsory  service  carried  in 
those  times.*  Winchester,  also,  was  considered  to  be  in 
danger  from  the  predatory  fleet :  the  more  so,  because  there 
were  many  defects  in  its  walls.  Instructions  were  now 
given  to  repair  them  with  diligence ;  and  for  making  the  in- 
habitants provide  themselves  with  arms  in  proportion  to  the 
goods  which  they  possessed ;  and  that  they  should  be  array- 
ed, and  keep  watch  upon  the  walls  when  need  should  be ; 
and  that  they  who  refused  obedience  should  be  put  in  cus- 
tody. The  people  of  Chichester  were  ordered,  in  like  man- 
ner, to  prepare  for  defence ;  and  thej'  were  exempted,  in 
consequence,  for  a  year,  from  all  requisitions  of  stores, 
cattle,  or  carriages  for  the  public  service. f 

The  lord  Richard  Talbot  was  appointed  captain  of  South- 
ampton, and  allowed  20  men-at-arms  for  that  service,  and 
100  archers  at  the  king's  wages,  the  soldiers  having  a  month's 
pay  beforehand,  and  the  lord  Richard  100/.  by  way  of  gra- 
tuity. The  bishop  of  Winchester,  the  prior  of  St.  Swithin's, 
and  the  abbot  of  Hyde  were  ordered  to  keep  at  their  manors 
in  that  neighbourhood,  and  be  ready  with  all  their  men  to 
assist  him  at  his  summons ;  and  two  pinnaces  were  always 
to  be  at  his  orders  in  that  port.  Carisbrook  Castle  was  duly 
stored;  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in  con- 
sideration, as  it  should  seem,  of  the  losses  they  had  sustain- 
ed, were  exempted  from  the  payment  of  any  aid  to  the  king 
during  the  war :  but  it  was  also  ordered  that  none  of  them 
should  absent  themselves  from  the  island,  their  presence 
being  so  needful  for  its  defence  that  they  were  not  to  be  im- 
panelled or  summoned  at  any  assize  or  inquest  so  long  as 
the  war  lasted.  But  preparations  were  also  made  for  the 
more  hopeful  operations  of  offensive  war,  and  for  the  great 
national  object  of  keeping  the  seas.  For  this  object,  and 
for  the  defence  of  the  northern  marches,  the  commons  offer- 
ed 30,000  sacks  of  wool  (then  the  staple  wealth  of  England), 
on  certain  conditions ;  2500  immediately  to  be  received  in 
part  of  payment,  if  the  king  (who  was  then  on  the  conti- 
nent) liked  the  conditions ;  and  if  not,  they  were  freely 
offered  to  him.  The  lords,  till  they  should  know  his  plea- 
sure, granted  a  tenth  of  their  grain,  wool,  and  lambs,  and  of 

*  Symer,  vol.  ii.  part  ii.  p.  1076.  T  Ibid.  1077. 


214  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND, 

all  their  own  demesnes.  The  mariners  of  the  Cinque-ports 
engaged  to  have  their  fleet  ready  by  a  certain  time,  twenty- 
one  ships  of  their  own,  and  nine  of  the  Thames,  and  to  bear 
half  the  charges  themselves ;  "  the  other  half  the  privy 
council  promised  to  bear  of  their  own  good  will  to  their  king 
and  country ;  but  not  of  duty,  nor  that  it  should  stand  for  a 
precedent."  The  mariners  of  the  west  promised  to  set  forth 
ninety  sail,  and  ten  ships  of  the  burden  of  100  tons,  or  more, 
and  to  defray  the  whole  charges,  if  they  could.  "Two 
sufficient  scholars  were  appointed  to  compute  the  charges, 
one  for  the  western,  the  other  for  the  Cinque-ports.  From 
Portsmouth  westward,  all  the  ships  of  1 00  tons  or  upwards 
were  to  rendezvous  at  Dartmouth,  under  their  admiral,  Richard 
Fitzallen,  earl  of  Arundel ;  those  of  the  Cinque-ports  and  the 
Thames  at  Winchelsea,  under  William  Clinton,  earl  of 
Huntingdon.  They  had  orders  to  stay  all  other  ships  which 
might  be  passing,  and  warn  them  into  safe  harbours ;  "  and, 
to  furnish  this  fleet  with  soldiers,  besides  those  whose  duty 
was  to  serve,  and  those  who  were  pressed,  proclamation  was 
made  that  all  who  had  obtained  charters  of  pardon  from  the 
king  should  now  repair  to  the  sea-coast  for  his  service,  on 
pain  of  forfeiting  the  same."* 

While  these  preparations  were  going  forward,  the  Cinque- 
ports'  men  performed  a  most  gallant  enterprise,  which  they 
undertook  for  the  sake  of  revenging  "  in  part  the  late  affronts 
done  to  England  by  the  French  navy," — affronts  in  which 
they  had  had  their  share ;  Sandwich  having  been  insulted, 
and  Hastings  and  Rye  having  suffered.  They  embarked  in 
pinnaces  and  well-appointed  boats,  in  the  middle  of  January, 
and  pushed  over  from  Dover  to  Boulogne.  Such  an  enter- 
prise, and  at  such  a  season,  had  not  been  dreamt  of  by  the 
enemy ;  having  chosen,  like  smugglers,  fit  weather  for  their 
purpose, — misty  and  dark, — or  having  been  favoured  with  it 
by  fortune, — they  were  hardly  descried  before  they  were  in 
the  harbour.  Then  setting  upon  the  French  with  the  reso- 
lution to  be  looked  for  in  men  who  had  thus  gone  to  seek 
them,  they  burnt  nineteen  galleys,  four  great  ships,  and 
twenty  boats,  with  all  their  tackling ;  the  block-house,  which 
was  full  of  naval  stores ;  and  the  houses  that  were  near  the 
shore.  They  landed  also,  defeated  the  townsmen  in  a  skir- 
mish, set  fire  to  the  lower  town,  hung  twelve  captains  of  the 
ships  which  they  had  taken,  "  and  so  bade  them  farewell  for 
that  time. "I  It  were  to  be  wished  that  this  brave  adventure 
had  not  been  disgraced  by  the  death  of  the  twelve  prisoners ; 
biit,  in  war,  barbarities  provoke  barbarities ;  and  the  treat- 
*  Barnes,  151.  -f  Barnes,  183. 


JOHN  OF  LUXEMBURG.  215 

merit  of  the  wounded  English  in  the  Edward  and  Chris- 
topher, and  the  enormities  which  the  French  committed 
wherever  they  had  landed  on  the  coast,  had  roused  a  feeling 
of  immitigable  enmity.  During  a  conference  which  was  in- 
effectually held  with  the  view  of  bringing  about  a  peace,  Ed- 
ward asked  the  two  cardinals  who  were  present,  whether  he 
had  not  great  cause  for  making  war  against  the  French,  if 
only  to  revenge  their  extreme  cruelty  to  his  poor  subjects 
who  fell  into  their  hands  1  An  Italian  cardinal  somewhat 
scornfully  replied, — "  My  lord,  the  realm  of  France  is  en- 
compassed about  with  so  strong  a  cord  of  silk,  that  it  can- 
not be  broken  by  the  strength  of  the  kingdom  of  England. 
Wherefore,  O  king,  you  will  do  well  to  stay  for  the  arrival 
of  the  Dutchmen,  and  others  your  friends  and  confederates, 
and  I  believe  you  will  not  find  them  here  in  haste !"  Fired 
at  these  words,  Edward  made  answer,  that  he  would  ride 
into  France  with  banner  displayed,  and  there  take  a  view  of 
these  invincible  Frenchmen ;  and  that  he  would  either  win 
that  realm  against  whosoever  should  oppose  or  leave  his 
body  on  the  field.  Many  weeks  had  not  passed  before  the 
lord  Geoffrey  Scroop,  then  lord  chief  justice  of  England, 
took  this  cardinal  to  the  top  of  a  high  tower,  and  from  thence 
showed  him  the  frontiers  of  France,  where,  for  some  fifteen 
leagues,  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  country  was  on  fire.  "  My 
lord,"  said  he,  "  what  thinketh  your  eminence  now  1  Doth 
not  the  silken  cord  seem  in  great  danger  of  being  cracked  1"* 
So  long  as  the  king  Edward  relied  upon  his  subsi-  ,040 
dized  confederates  more  than  upon  the  native  strength 
of  England,  the  French  king  was  not  without  good  ground 
for  the  confidence  with  which  he  regarded  his  aspiring  ad- 
versary. That  confidence  carried  him  so  far,  that  when  the 
earl  of  Salisbury  and  Robert  Ufford  le  Fitz,  the  earl  of  Suf- 
folk's eldest  son,  were  taken  prisoners  at  the  siege  of  Lisle, 
and  sent  in  irons  to  Paris,  exposed  on  the  way,  in  a  cart,  to 
the  mockery  of  the  rabble  in  every  town,  village,  and  ham- 
let through  which  they  passed,  and  there  presented  to  him 
"  as  a  lucky  hansel  of  his  future  success,"  he  gave  orders  that 
they  should  be  put  to  death  ;  and  this  would  have  been  done, 
if  John  of  Luxemburg,  the  abdicated  king  of  Bohemia,  had 
not,  with  a  freedom  which  his  former  rank,  his  character, 
and  his  blindness  authorized,  interposed :  "  Sir,"  he  said, 
"  if  these  your  prisoners  were  not  of  as  high  merit  as  quality, 
I  should  not  take  much  notice  of  them  at  this  time,  though  I 
should  hardly  allow  of  putting  to  death  the  meanest  enemy 
in  cold  blood.  They  are,  indeed,  open  enemies  to  your 
♦  Barneg,  137.  142. 


216  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

majesty, — but  honourable  enemies,  who  never  fought  against 
you  save  in  their  liege  master's  quarrel,  and  not  then  till 
open  defiance  had  been  made ;  nor  is  it  likely  that,  when 
taken  less  by  valour  than  by  a  subtle  contrivance  they  would 
have  yielded  as  they  did,  had  it  not  been  in  the  belief  that 
they  should  be  treated  like  prisoners  of  war.  Let  not  the 
most  Christian  king  of  France  prove  more  rigorous,  and  less 
just  and  honourable,  than  even  his  enemies  supposed  him 
to  be !  The  event  of  war  is  doubtful ;  and  if  these  men 
should  now  suffer,  who  of  your  lords  would  willingly  fight 
in  your  cause,  seeing  that,  if  taken,  they  must  never  expect 
to  be  put  to  ransom,  but,  in  revenge  for  these  men's  blood, 
to  inevitable  death  1  It  maybe  any  man's  fortune  to  be  made 
prisoner ;  but  it  will  be  an  everlasting  blot  to  him  who  kills 
those  in  cold  blood  whom  the  law  of  arms  makes  only  pri- 
soners of  war.  My  royal  friend  and  brother,  1ft  us  be  brave 
enemies,  but  merciful  victors !  at  least,  let  us  forbear  from 
such  severities  as  theae,  till  we  are  provoked  by  the  example 
of  the  English  to  use  them."  This  generous  remonstrance 
prevailed :  Philip,  however,  committed  them  to  close  pri- 
son;* and  it  is  affirmed  that  he  set  a  price  upon  Edward's 
head.]" 

Of  this  Edward  was  apprized  by  his  brother-in-law  the 
duke  of  Gelderland.  He  was  informed,  also,  that  strict 
charge  had  been  given  by  Philip  to  his  admirals  to  watch 
for  him,  and  that  they  had  engaged  to  present  him,  alive  or 
dead,  at  Paris ;  for  they  had  command  of  the  most  gallant 
armada  that  any  man  living  had  ever  seen,  being  more  than 
400  sail,  whereof  200  were  great  vessels,  well-manned,  and 
stored  with  all  habiliments  of  war;  "  wherefore  it  behoved 
him  to  look  to  himself!"  Advice  to  the  same  tenour  came 
from  the  lord  Morley,  his  admiral  of  the  northern  fleet ;  and 
his  council  entreated  him  by  no  means  to  attempt  the  pas- 
sage "  without  a  royal  navy."  He  was  then  at  Ipswich, 
meaning  to  cross  from  that  coast  to  Flanders  :  the  force 
which  he  had  there  ready  consisted  of  nearly  200  sail ;  but 
upon  this  information  of  the  enemy's  strength  and  intention, 
he  despatched  the  bishop  of  Lincoln  to  the  southward  ports, 
and  went  himself  to  Yarmouth,  and  caused  so  many  more 
vessels  to  be  equipped,  that  the  whole  armament,  when  col- 
lected, consisted  of  260  ships,  great  and  small,  well-manned 
with  archers  and  men-at-arms  ;  besides  these  there  were 
some  transports,  having  many  ladies  on  board,  who  were 
going  over  to  the  queen,  then  at  Ghent. 

*  Barnes,  1G9.  f  Ibid.  181. 


SLUYS.  217 

With  this  fleet  Edward  sailed  from  the  Orwell,  oa  Thurs- 
day, the  22d  of  June,  "  about  the  first  hour  of  the  day,  in 
the  name  of  God  and  St.  George."  On  the  morrow,  beinor 
the  eve  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  they  came  to  the  coast  of 
Flanders,  about  Blanksberg,  and  as  they  approached  the 
Zwijn,  and  discovered  so  great  a  number  of  ships  that  their 
masts  and  streamers  made  them  resemble  a  wood,  the  king 
asked  the  master  of  his  vessel  what  he  supposed  them  to  be  1 
"  May  it  please  your  majesty,"  replied  the  master,  "  I  take 
them  to  be  Normans  and  others,  sent  out  by  the  French 
king  to  rob  and  spoil  your  coasts,  and  to  take  your  majesty's 
person  if  they  can  :  and  among  them  I  doubt  not  we  shall 
find  those  very  men  who  burnt  your  good  town  of  South- 
ampton, and  took  your  two  good  ships,  the  St.  Edward  and 
tlie  Christopher." — "  Ha !"  said  the  king,  "  I  have  long 
desired  to  fight  with  the  Frenchmen  ;  and  now  I  shall  fight 
witli  some  of  them,  by  the  grace  of  God  and  St.  George ;  for 
truly  they  have  done  me  so  many  displeasures  that  I  shall 
be  revenged,  an  I  may  !"  He  then  commanded  the  lord 
Reginald  Cobham,  sir  John  Chandos,  and  sir  Stephen  de  la 
Burkin  to  land,  and  ride  along  the  shore,  "  to  view  the  coun- 
tenance of  the  enemy."  They  did  this  at  safe  leisure,  all 
Flanders  being  then  friendly  to  the  English ;  and  they 
approached  near  enough  to  see  that  the  fleet,  which  they 
estimated  at  about  400  sail,  was  divided  into  three  squad- 
rons, all  riding  in  the  harbour  of  Sluys  :  among  them  were 
nineteen  ships,  so  large,  that  they  had  never  seen  so  many  of 
that  size  in  company  before,  and  thechief  of  them  they  recog- 
nised for  the  Christopher ;  that  ship  having,  probably,  been 
named  after  the  gigantic  saint  of  hagiological  romance, 
because  of  its  extraordinary  magnitude.  Evening  was  be- 
ginning to  close  when  they  returned  to  make  their  report; 
and  therefore  the  king,  "  who  would  needs  for  that  time  be 
admiral  of  the  fleet  himself,"  gave  orders  to  cast  anchor,  re- 
solving to  have  the  day  before  him,  and  to  begin  the  fight 
next  morning. 

The  place  where  the  English  were  about  to  gain  their  first 
great  naval  victory,  properly  so  called  (for  in  the  battle  of 
Damme  seamanship  had  no  part),  was  in  early  times  the 
most  flourishing  port  upon  the  Flemish  coast.  Some, 
indeed,  have  supposed  that  it  was  occupied  as  such  by  the 
Nervii  in  Caesar's  time,  and  that  the  settlement  which  they 
possessed  there  was  destroyed  by  Ariovistus.  "William  of 
Ypres  took  possession  of  it  with  his  band  of  freebooters, 
who  are  said  to  have  been  chiefly  English  ;  and  from  thence 
he  infested  the  adjacent  country  till  lie  was  driven   out  by 

Vol.  I.  T 


218  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

The'odoric  of  Alsace,  and  repairing  to  England,  acquired  an  ill 
name  there  in  the  service  of  king  Stephen.  At  that  time  the 
place  was  called  Lammensvliet,  from  Lambert,  an  English- 
man, who  constructed  the  sluices  there  ;  it  was  also  called 
port  Zuin,  or  the  south  port ;  and  this  name,  in  the  course 
of  corruption,  becoming  the  Swine  (Het  Zwijn),  still  dis- 
tinguishes the  gulf,  or  inlet,  which  then  fonned  a  harbour 
capable  of  containing  the  largest  vessels  that  were  then 
known,  though  it  is  now  so  choked  with  sand  that  even  the 
smallest  craft  can  no  longer  enter.  The  entrance  of  the 
Zwijn  has  been  called  the  Horse-market,  because,  in  certain 
winds,  the  sound  of  the  waters  there  has  been  compared  to 
the  confused  and  irregular  trampling  of  horses'  feet.  About 
the  year  1330,  the  name  of  the  work  superseded  that  of  the 
engineer,  and  the  town,  which  had  grown  up,  was  called 
Sluys.  It  then  began  to  flourish  under  the  favour  of  the  earls 
of  Flanders ;  but  Bruges  would  brook  no  rival  near ;  the 
earls  had  been  compelled,  by  the  merchants  of  that  powerful 
city,  to  revoke  the  privileges  which  they  had  granted,  which, 
in  fact,  were  incompatible  with  the  earlier  city's  vested 
rights,  and  which,  by  giving  Sluys  the  command  of  the 
Zwijn,  placed  the  trade  of  Damme  and  Bruges  at  its  mercy. 
These  merchants  were  able  to  enforce  their  pretensions  by 
that  law  from  which  there  is  no  appeal  ;  and  when  Sluys 
had  been  granted  to  the  earl  of  Namur,  the  men  of  Bruges 
attacked  it ;  defeated  him  and  the  Guelderlanders  and  Ger- 
mans whom  he  had  brought  thither  to  defend  it ;  took  the 
town,  burnt  it,  and  levelled  it  to  the  ground  ;  nor,  when  the 
inhabitants  rebuilt  their  habitations,  w'ould  they  allow  them 
to  erect  any  works  for  their  defence.* 

Many  of  the  enemy's  fleet  were  Spaniards  from  the  ports 
in  the  bay  of  Biscay,  the  seamen  of  that  coast  being  renown- 
ed for  their  seamanship  even  among  the  hardy  sailors  of  the 
north.  By  means  of  the  king  of  Xavarre,  Philip  is  supposed 
to  have  obtained  their  aid.  The  Genoese  galleys  were  com- 
manded by  Egidio  Bocanegra,  the  Barbenoir,  or  Blackbeard, 
of  the  French,  brother  to  the  doge,  and  one  of  the  best  com- 
manders of  his  nation  by  land  or  sea.  They  had  taken  their 
station  there  to  prevent  the  English  from  landing  in  the 
port  for  which  they  expected  them  to  make ;  and  also  to 
obstruct  the  succours  which,  from  the  neighbouring  ports, 
the  Flemings  and  Brabanters  were  on  the  alert  to  afford 
them.  But  Bocanegra,  like  a  skilful  seaman,  was  not  for 
waiting  an  attack  when  the  sun  and  the  tide  would  be  against 

*  Sanderi  Flandria,  ii.  212.  hud.  Guicciardini,  38L  Marchantius,  52. 
Sueyro  i.  403.     Busching,  liv.  252.    (French  translation  ) 


BATTLE  OF  SLUYS.  219 

them,  and  the  wind  not  in  their  favour,  but  for  putting  out 
to  meet  the  English,  and  so  taking  advantage  of  their  own 
superior  force.  The  French  admiral,  Pierre  Bahuchet,  is 
said  to  have  opposed  this ;  there  was  a  jealousy  between 
them ;  and  this  worse  charge  has  been  brought  against  him, 
— that  his  ships  were  neither  provided  nor  manned  as  they 
ought  to  have  been,  and  that  he  had  defrauded  the  king  by 
false  musters.*  The  advice,  however,  was  manifestly  too 
reasonable  to  be  rejected  :  and  early  in  the  morning  they 
came  out  of  the  haven  in  three  squadrons,  and  in  good  order. 
Indeed,  it  was  no  matter  of  choice  with  them,  had  it  been 
otherwise  advisable  to  have  remained  there  ;  for  the  men  of 
Bruges  were  in  array  upon  the  shore,  ready  to  act  against 
them  upon  any  opportunity  ;  and  they  could  feel  little  secu- 
rity there  any  longer,  than  while  they  were  masters  of  the 
sea. 

On  the  other  hand,  Edward  was  so  confident  in  the  skill 
and  courage  of  his  men,  that  he  disregarded  the  enemy's 
superiority  in  numbers.  His  great  ships,  well-manned  with 
archers,  were  placed  in  the  van ;  and  between  every  two 
there  was  one  with  men-at-arms.  A  squadron  was  kept  in 
reserve,  to  prevent  the  French  from  closing  upon  his  van, 
and  to  assist  wherever  aid  might  be  required.  A  third,  in 
which  were  500  archers  and  300  men-at-arms,  was  appointed 
to  protect  the  vessels  where  the  women  were  aboard,  whom 
the  king  is  said  to  have  "  comforted  all  he  could."  Having 
disposed  the  fleet  in  this  array,  he  gave  orders  to  hoist  the 
sails,  "  designing  to  come  into  a  quarter  wind,  so  as  to  get 
the  advantage  of  the  sun  and  the  wind ;  and  as  he  stood  off 
with  this  purpose,  some  of  the  French,  who  were  more  brave 
than  considerate,  supposed  that  the  English,  seeing  them- 
selves so  far  inferior  in  force,  wished  to  avoid  an  action. 
But  when  they  descried  the  banner  royal  of  England,  they 
knew  that  no  such  intention  was  entertained ;  and  their 
hopes  were  then  raised  the  higher,  thinking  that  so  great  a 
prize  might  fall  into  their  hands. 

Before  the  general  action  commenced,  Bocanegra  sent 
forth  four  galleys  against  a  ship  called  the  Rich  Oliver, 
which  was  advanced  before  the  others.  It  is  one  of  the  re- 
markable circumstances  belonging  to  this  action,  that  gal- 
leys were  notf  employed  in  it  according  to  the  ancient  mode 

♦  Sueyro,  i.  458,  459. 

t  And  this,  according  to  Charnock  (i.  341.)  was  the  first  time  they  were 
disused :  "  since,  though  the  use  or  ships,  as  vessels  of  a  ditTen-nt  construc- 
tion from  galleys  were  then  called,  had  been  partially  adopted  for  many 
years,  yet  m  every  preceding  action  which  bad  taken  place,  even  in  the 


230  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

of  war,  no  attempt  being  made  to  produce  any  effect  with 
their  beaks.  In  the  present  instance,  they  assailed  their 
enemy  with  stones  and  shot  from  engines*  on  all  sides,  so 
that  the  Rich  Oliver  sustained  a  great  loss  in  men,  and  was 
in  great  danger  of  being  taken ;  but  other  vessels,  having 
now  the  wind  at  will,j"  came  to  the  rescue  in  time,  and  the 
four  galleys  were  boarded  and  won  before  the  enemy  could 
succour  them.  And  now  the  fleets  met :  "  the  French  join- 
ing battle  with  many  trumpets  and  other  instruments  of 
martial  music,  and  the  English  giving  altogether  a  mighty 
shout,  it  sounded  horribly  upon  the  waters,  the  shores  being 
not  far  oif."  At  the  same  instant  they  sent  a  flight  of  arrows 
from  their  long-bows,  which  the  French  answered  as  libe- 
rally with  cross-bow  shot ;  "  but  the  arrows  did  most  exe- 
cution by  far." — Then  began  a  sore  battle.  The  men-at-arms 
approached  and  fought  hand  to  hand,  for  on  both  sides  they 
were  prepared  with  great  hooks  and  grappling-irons,  both 
being  alike  willing  that  strength  and  prowess  should  decide 
the  combat ;  and  "  many  noble  deeds  of  arms  were  that  day 
done,  assailing,  and  defending,  taking  and  rescuing  again." 
The  French  had  set  the  huge  St.  Christopher  foremost,  and 
the  English  made  strenuous  efforts  to  retake  it,  for  they  knew 
the  king  was  much  displeased  at  the  loss  of  that  good  ship. 
So  well  they  sped,  and  yet  so  bravely  were  resisted,  that  when 
they  became  masters,  few  were  left  alive  on  board  to  be  taken 
to  mercy.  Her  captain,  Jan  van  Heyle,  was  one ;  a  Flemish 
gentleman,  who  escaped  death  now  only  to  meet  with  it  ere 
long  from  the  hands  of  the  populace  in  Bruges.  The  great 
Christopher  was  speedily  manned  with  archers,  and  turned 
"  her  angry  fore-deck  against  the  Genoese."  "  This  battle," 
says  Froissart,  "  was  right  fierce  and  terrible ;  for  the  bat- 
tles on  the  sea  are  more  dangerous  and  fiercer  than  on  the 

Atlantic,  where  the  use  of  galleys  became  most  exploded,  tUey  had  been  in- 
termixed with  the  loftier  vessels,  built  according  to  the  newly-introduced 
system."    But  what  actions  had  taken  place  in  the  Atlantic  at  that  time  ? 

*  Fabyan  has  embellished  his  narrative  here  in  a  way  that  might  mislead 
many  readers;  he  says  that  the  enemy  "assailed  this  ship,  and  beat  her 
with  gun-shot,  and  her  men  with  hail-shot,  exceedingly."  And  that  "  then 
approached  the  whole  fleet  upon  both  sides  with  hideous  and  fearful  din  and 
noise  of  guns,  with  terrible  flaming  of  wild  fire  and  other,  with  thick  shot 
of  quarrels  and  arrows,  and  crushing  of  ships,  that  hideous  and  wonderful 
it  was  to  behold,  so  that  many  a  soul  was  there  expelled  from  their  bodies 
in  short  while."— -(p.  450.)  He  speaks  of  guns  also  in  the  former  action  with 
the  Edward  and  Christopher.  They  were  not  used  in  naval  warfare  till 
long  after  this;  and  I  have  not  found  any  authority  which  leads  me  to  sup- 
pose that  wild-fire  had  been  used  as  yet,  nor  that  fire  in  any  way  was  em- 
ployed in  this  action. 

t  Charnock  observes,  that  the  weather-gage  appears  to  have  been  seized 
for  the  first  time  in  this  action,  as  a  most  consequential  preliminary  point. 
—Hist,  of  Naval  Architecture,  i.  340. 


BATTLE  OF  SLUVS.  221 

land,  by  reason  that  on  the  sea  there  is  no  recoiling  nor  fly- 
ing ;  there  is  no  remedy  but  to  fight,  and  to  abide  fortune, 
and  every  man  to  show  his  prowess."  The  St.  Edward  also 
was  retaken,  and  the  St.  George,  and  the  Black  Cock. 

The  enemy  had  many  engines  for  casting  stones,  and  they 
employed  them  with  great  effect :  a  large  ship,  and  a  galley* 
belonging  to  Hull  were  sunk  by  them,  with  all  on  board; 
and  from  a  great  ship  which  belonged  to  the  king's  ward- 
robe, there  were  but  two  men  and  a  woman  that  escaped. 
The  battle  lasted  from  a  little  before  ten  in  the  morning  till 
seven  in  the  evening.  The  first  squadron  of  the  enemy  was 
entirely  beaten  ;  the  second  so  sorely  pressed,  that  the  French 
leaped  overboard  to  escape  from  the  showers  of  arrows  which 
were  sent  down  on  them.  When  farther  exertion  became 
hopeless,  Bocanegra  made  off  with  his  squadron.  One  large 
French  ship,  the  St.  Jacques  of  Dieppe,  thought  to  have 
carried  off  with  her  a  ship  of  Sandwich,  belonging  to  the 
prior  of  Canterbury  :  but  the  Englishmen  made  a  stout  re- 
sistance ;  and  the  earl  of  Huntingdon,  William  Clinton, 
coming  in  his  vessel  to  their  aid,  the  contest  continued 
through  the  night ;  at  morning  they  got  possession  of  the  St. 
Jacques,  and  found  400  dead  on  board.  The  victory  was 
rendered  more  complete  by  the  opportune  arrival  of  the  lord 
Morley  with  part  of  the  northern  fleet,  and  by  the  aid  of 
the  Flemish  small  craft,  which  came  to  partake  in  it  from 
all  the  adjacent  ports.  It  was  the  greatest  victory  that  had  > 
ever  been  gained  on  those  seas.  Two  hundred  and  thirty 
sail  were  taken ;  among  them  the  St.  Dennis,  "  a  mighty 
ship."  One  of  the  French  admirals  fell ;  Bahuchet,  the 
other,!  was  hung  from  the  main  yard  of  his  own  ship,  be- 
cause of  the  enormities  which  he,  "  to  say  no  more,  had 
permitted  at  Southampton."  The  carnage  was  very  great ;  the 
largest  estimate  of  the  English  loss  being  4000,  the  lowest 
on  the  other  side  10,000 ;  and  this  was  carried  by  exaggeration 
to  the  number  of  30,000 ;  that  it  amounted  to  this  on  both 
sides,  both  parties  seem  to  have  agreed.  Men  are  prone 
to  exaggerate  whatever  is  wonderful;  but  it  is  a  strange 
propensity  which  leads  them  to  magnify  calamities,  and  to 
suppose  that  the  merit  of  a  victory  is  enhanced  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  mourners  whom  it  has  made.  No  doubt, 
in  those  days,  the  proportion  of  deaths  in  battle  was  much 
greater  than  in  modern  war ;  they  fought  hand  to  hand,  and 
not  as  with  the  bayonet,  where  the  charge  is  almost  instantly 

"  Campbell,  i.  139. 

t  According  to  Fabvan,  both  were  thus  put  to  death. 
t2 


222  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

decided  ;  but  in  such  close  combat  as  called  forth  personal 
and  vindictive  feelings ;  and  the  man  who  was  not  worth 
taking  for  his  ransom  had,  it  may  be  feared,  in  most  cases, 
little  chance  for  mercy. 

The  only  person  of  distinction  who  fell  on  the  English 
side  was  sir  Thomas,  eldest  son  of  the  lord  Ralph  Monther- 
mer.  The  king  is  said  to  have  been  wounded  in  the  thigh  ; 
the  wound  was  so  slight  that  he  did  not  mention  it  in  his 
letter  to  the  bishops  and  clergy,  which  conveyed  to  England 
the  first  certain  tidings  of  the  battle ;  and  this  is  the  first 
despatch  among  the  English  records  announcing  a  naval 
victory, — a  victory  where  the  king  commanded  in  person, 
and  which  was  one  of  the  most  complete  that  has  ever  been 
obtained  upon  the  seas.  After  the  customary  greeting,  "  We 
have  thought  good,"  said  the  king,  "  to  intimate  unto  you, 
for  your  true  certification  and  rejoicing,  the  bountiful  be- 
nignity of  God's  great  mercy  lately  poured  upon  us.  It  is 
not  unknown  to  you,  and  to  other  our  faithful  subjects,  with 
what  storms  of  boisterous  wars  we  have  been  tost  and 
shaken,  as  in  the  great  ocean.  But  although  the  rising  surges 
of  the  sea  be  marvellous,  yet  more  marvellous  is  the  Lord 
above,  who,  turning  the  tempest  into  a  calm,  hath  in  so  great 
dangers  so  mercifully  respected  us.  For  whereas  we  of  late 
did  ordain  our  passage  into  Flanders  upon  urgent  causes,  the 
lord  Philip  de  Valois,  our  bitter  enemy,  understanding  there- 
of, laid  against  us  a  mighty  navy,  intending  thereby  either 
to  take  our  person,  or  at  least  to  hinder  our  voyage;  which 
voyage  if  it  had  been  stayed,  it  had  been  the  cutting  off  of 
all  the  great  enterprises  by  us  intended,  and  we  had  our- 
selves been  brought  to  great  confusion.  But  the  God  of  mer- 
cies, seeing  us  so  distressed,  in  such  peril  and  danger,  hath 
graciously,  and  beyond  man's  expectation,  sent  to  us  sufficient 
succour  and  strength  of  valiant  soldiers,  and  a  prosperous 
wind  after  our  own  desires,  by  the  means  whereof  we  set  out 
of  the  haven  into  the  seas,  where  we  eftsoon  perceived  our 
enemies  well  appointed,  and  prepared  to  set  upon  us  with  a 
main  multitude.  Against  whom,  notwithstanding,  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  hath  granted  unto  us  the  victory,  through  a  strong 
and  vehement  conflict ;  in  the  which  battle  a  mighty  number 
of  our  enemies  were  destroyed,  and  wellnigh  all  their  whole 
navy  taken,  with  some  loss  also  on  our  part,  but  nothing  like 
in  comparison  to  theirs.  By  reason  whereof  we  doubt  not 
but  that  the  passage  of  the  seas  hereafter  shall  be  more  quiet 
and  safe  for  our  subjects ;  and  also  many  other  commodities 
shall  ensue,  as  we  have  good  cause  to  hope.  For  which 
cause,  we,  devoutly  considering  the  heavenly  grace  so  mer- 


Edward's  letter  to  the  clergy.  323 

cifully  wrought  upon  us,  do  render  most  humble  thanks  and 
praise  to  Christ  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  beseeching  Him,  that 
as  He  hath  been,  and  always  is,  ready  to  prevent  our  neces- 
sities in  his  own  good  time,  so  He  will  continue  his  helping 
hand  ever  toward  us,  and  so  direct  us  here  temporally,  that 
we  may  reign  and  rejoice  with  him  eternally  in  heaven. 
And  in  like  sort  we  require  your  charitable  assistance,  that 
you  also,  with  us,  rising  up  to  the  praise  of  God  alone,  who 
hath  begim  to  work  with  us  so  favourably  for  our  good,  do, 
in  your  public  prayers  and  divine  service,  as  well  as  in  your 
private  devotions,  instantly  recommend  us  unto  the  Lord, 
here  travelling  in  these  foreign  countries,  and  seeking  not 
only  to  recover  our  right  in  France,  but  also  to  advance  the 
whole  catholic  church  of  Christ,  and  to  rule  our  peojJe  in 
righteousness.  And  that  ye  also  call  upon  your  clergy  and 
people  (each  one  through  his  diocess)  to  do  the  same ;  in- 
voking all  together  the  name  of  our  Saviour  on  our  behalf, 
that  of  his  mercy  he  would  please  to  give  unto  us,  his  humble 
servant,  his  grace  and  a  docible  heart,  that  we  may  so  judge 
and  govern  here  upon  earth  in  equity,  doing  that  which  he  hath 
commanded,  that  at  length  we  may  happily  attain  to  that 
which  He  hath  promised  through  our  Lord  and  Saviour."* 

The  news  of  this  great  battle  was  conveyed  to  king  Philip 
in  a  very  different  manner;  for  though  ill  tidings  too  often 
find  ready  tongues,  it  is  not  when  the  great  and  the  powerful 
are  to  be  told  of  their  defeated  armaments  and  baffled  hopes. 
A  court  fool  is  said  to  have  been  made  the  instrument  of  con-' 
veying  to  the  royal  ear  what  every  one  else  feared  to  commu- 
nicate, and  what  no  one  else  could  so  aptly  "insinuate  by 
subtlety  of  covert  words."  Accordingly  he  began  to  rail 
against  the  English  as  a  set  of  dastardly  poltroons,  heaping 
upon  them  those  reproaches  to  which  the  king  knew  thatoi 
all  others  they  were  least  obnoxious ;  till  Philip  at  last 
asked  him  how  he  came  to  think  the  English  were  such  das- 
tards. "  Why,"  replied  the  fool,  "  because  the  fainthearted 
rogues  had  not  courage  enough  to  jump  overboard  into  the 
sea  so  bravely  as  our  Normems  and  gentlemen  of  France 
did."t 

*  Foxe's  Acts  and  Monuments,  i.  430.  Barnes,  184.  This  battle  was  long 
regarded  as  our  greatest  naval  viciory.  Sir  Roger  Williams,  wlion  he  de- 
scribes Boiset's  defeat  of  the  Spanish  fleet  under  Sanchi)  d'Avila,  says, 
"  No  fight  halh  been  comparable  unto  it  by  sea  these  five  hundred  years, 
saving  that  before  Siuys,  fought  by  our  famous  king  Edward  III.  against 
the  French  king  and  the  earl  of  Flanders;  and  that  of  Lepanto."— 5coa'« 
Somers''  Tracts,  i.  383. 

t  Barnes,  185. 


224  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 


CHAP     V. 

FROM  THE    BATTLE  OF  SLUYS   TO  THE   DEATH  OF 
EDWARD  in. 

A.   D.    1340—1377. 

On  the  night  of  the  victory,  Edward  lay  on  board,  the 
joyful  sound  of  trumpets  and  clarions  being  kept  up  through 
the  night.  On  the  morrow,  many  of  the  nobles  and  principal 
burgesses  of  Flanders  came  off  to  visit  and  congratulate  him  : 
he  landed  that  day.  His  first  act,  upon  setting  foot  on  shore, 
was.  to  kneel  down  in  thankful  prayer ;  his  next,  for  it  was 
Sunday,  to  hear  mass  ;  and,  with  more  solemnity,  return 
thanks  to  God  for  his  great  victory.  There  he  remained 
during  the  morrow  ;  and  knighting  a  squire,  by  name  Nele 
Loring,  for  his  distinguished  services  in  the  action,  made  a 
grant  of  20/.  a  year  to  him  and  his  heirs  male  for  ever.  No 
doubt,  other  honours  were  conferred,  and  other  rewards 
given;  but  this  happens  to  have  been  remembered.*  On  the 
Tuesday,  he  went  on  foot  to  the  church  of  Onser  Lieve 
Vrouw  of  Ardenburg;  the  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  which 
was  there  worshipped,  being  the  most  celebrated  for  its 
miracles  of  any  upon  the  coast  of  Flanders.  For  this  reason 
the  men  of  Bruges  used  to  suspend  the  trophies  of  their 
victories  in  her  church ;  Philip  had  done  so  when  he  over- 
ran Flanders,  and  Edwardf  now  devoutly  performed  the 
same  proud  observance.  Flanders  was  at  that  time  under  an 
interdict ;  but  he  had  no  difficulty  on  that  account,  for  he  had 
brought  over  with  him  certain  bishops,  and  very  many 
priests  and  deacons,  who  without  scruple  opened  the 
churches,  and  celebrated  divine  service,:}:  much  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  people.  From  thence  he  proceeded  to  Ghent, 
where  his  queen  presented  him  with  their  new-born  son, 
afterwards  so  well  known  by  the  name  of  John  of  Gaunt ; 

*  The  persons  whose  names  are  recorded  as  having  borne  a  part  in  this 
great  victory,  are  Thomas  Beauchamp,  earl  of  Warwick,  the  admiral 
(though  for  that  day  the  king  took  the  office  upon  himself) ;  sir  Thomas 
Beauchamp,  his  brother;  Henry  Plantagenet,  earl  of  Derby;  Lawrence 
Hastings,  earl  of  Pembroke;  William  Clinton,  earl  of  Huntlnedon  ;  the 
lord  Roger  Northwode  of  his  retinue  ;  Hugh  Audley,  earl  of  Gloucester  ; 
Humphrey  Bohun,  earl  of  Hereford  and  Essex,  and  William,  earl  of  North- 
ampton his  brother;  the  lords  Reginald  Cobham.  John  Chandos.  William 
Felton,  Waller  Manny,  Henry  Piercy,  John  de  la  Warre,  and  Ralph  Basset, 
of  Sapcote;  Thomas  Lucy,  lord  Multon  ;  and  of  foreigners,  Robert  of  Artois 
(a  bad  man),  then  earl  of  Richmond,  sir  Stephen  de  la  Burken,  and  sir 
Henry  of  Flanders. 

t  Sanderus,  ii.  208.  J  Barnes,  186. 


THE  POPE  OFFERS  HIS  MEDIATION.  225 

and  where,  shortly  afterward,  that  queen  held  at  the  font  the 
infant  child  of  Jacob  von  Artevald,  and  named  him  Philip 
after  herself, — that  Philip,  who,  if  he  had  died  before  pros- 
perity tainted  him,  would  have  left  one  of  the  most  heroic 
names  in  history. 

But  Edward  had  difficulties  now  to  struggle  with,  which 
are  not  to  be  overcome  by  straight-forward  courage.  He 
had  engaged  in  a  most  expensive  war;  his  allies  were  look- 
ing for  their  subsidies ;  and  his  letter  to  the  lords  and  com- 
mons expressed  a  fear  of  much  damage,  and  especially  loss 
of  honour,  unless  he  were  supported  by  speedy  supplies. 
The  king  was  personally  popular  ;  and  the  war  was  regarded 
by  the  people  with  an  eager  national  feeling  that  overlooked 
every  thing  except  its  costs, — then,  as  always,  willing  that 
any  price  should  be  paid  for  victory,  except  from  their  money 
and  their  goods.  A  great  proportion  of  the  grant  consisted  in 
wool,  which  was  first  to  be  taken  up  for  the  king  on  the 
credit  of  the  next  subsidy,  and  then  disposed  of  for  him  ;  if 
the  supply  had  been  adequate,  the  mode  of  rendering  it  con- 
vertible for  present  use  required  so  much  time,  that  he  was 
compelled  to  borrow,  for  his  immediate  necessities,  upon 
such  ruinous  terms  as  in  that  age  were  always  exacted  by 
those  men  who  had  money  to  lend.  The  pope  at  this  time 
performed  the  part  of  a  Christian  mediator,  urging  both  kings 
to  accommodate  their  differences  by  peace ;  he  exhorted  the 
king  of  England  not  to  be  puffed  up  with  the  pride  of  victory  ; 
he  warned  him  that  the  Flemings  were  a  perfidious  people, 
who  had  deceived  their  own  lord,  and  who  it  might  be  ex- 
pected would  more  readily  deceive  him ;  that  other  of  his 
allies  would  serve  him  only  as  far  as  by  so  doing  they  could 
serve  their  own  ends ;  and  that  least  of  all  should  he  trust 
to  the  Germans,  who  were  always  accounted  unstable,  and 
whose  instability  his  grandfather,  the  good  king  Edward, 
had  experienced  in  the  time  of  his  uttermost  need.  He 
exhorted  him  also  to  consider  the  great  power  of  the  king 
of  France,  who,  if  he  were  to  lose  ten  battles,  could  yet 
bring  together  men  in  abundance  for  resisting  any  invader ; 
whereas  how  difficult,  or  impossible,  would  it  be  for  the 
king  of  England  to  repair  his  losses,  being  in  a  foreign 
country,  in  the  hands  of  strangers,  and  not  attended  with  his 
own  people ! 

Weighty  as  these  considerations  were,  they  made  little 
impression  upon  Edward,  a  young  and  high-minded  king, 
and  at  that  time  flushed  with  the  fame  of  the  greatest  naval 
victory  that  ever  had  been  gained  under  the  English  flag;  he 
knew  also,  that  proposals  for  peace  were  always  most  ur- 


326  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

gently  pressed  upon  him  when  some  great  advantage  was  in 
his  hands.  And  he  would  have  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  this  re- 
presentation, "  had  not  there  heen  a  lady  of  high  quality, 
and  wonderful  virtue  and  piety,  whose  tears  and  prayers," 
says  his  historian,  "  could  not  be  lost  upon  a  man  whose 
heeirt  was  acquainted  with  pity."  This  was  the  lady  Jeanne 
de  Valois,  countess-dowager  of  Hainault,  sister  to  Philip, 
and  mother  to  Philippa  queen  of  England.  After  the  death 
of  her  husband,  William  the  Good,  she  had  retired  into  the 
abbey  of  Fontaine  au  Tertre.  When  Edward  was  pressing 
Tournay  by  a  strait  siege,  and  Philip  exerting  all  his  efforts 
for  its  relief,  this  excellent  woman  left  for  a  while  her  reli- 
gious retirement,  to  engage  in  the  holy  work  of  peace- 
making, upon  which  a  blessing  has  been  promised  by  the 
God  of  peace.  She  went  assiduously,  with  great  zeal  and 
diligence,*  between  them,  "humbly  kneeling  to  her  brother, 
whose  haughty  and  resolute  temper  she  well  knew,  and 
sweetly,  like  a  virtuous  mother,  intermixing,  with  her  son- 
in-law,  commands,  and  prayers,  and  moving  tears,  and  con- 
vincing arguments."  Being  nearly  connected  with  some  of 
the  chief  confederates  also,  she  laboured  to  obtain  their  co- 
operation ;  and  at  length  so  far  prevailed,  that  a  truce  for 
three  days  was  appointed,  and  a  meeting  of  commissioners 
in  a  little  chapel,  to  conclude  a  treaty  during  that  suspension 
of  arms.j"  She  was  present  during  the  conferences,  "earn- 
estly entreating  them  for  God's  sake  to  lay  aside  all  preju- 
dice and  passion,  and  only  to  consider  the  public  good,  and 
the  weal  of  Christendom,  and  be  ready  to  accept  of  what 
was  just."  By  her  persuasions,  aided,  as  they  were,  by  the 
inclinations  of  some  of  Edward's  subsidiary  allies,  the  com- 
missioners were  brought  to  an  agreement  on  the  second  day, 
and  on  third  they  concluded  a  truce  for  seven  months,  during 
which  ambassadors  on  both  sides  were  to  meet,  and,  in  con- 
junction with  certain  cardinals,  bring  about  a  final  peace. :^ 

It  derogates  nothing  from  the  honour  due  to  the  countess 
Jeanne  de  Valois,  that  there  was  little  likelihood  of  such  a 

*  "As  the  Greek  poets  report  of  Jocasta,  when  Polynices  and  Eteocles 
were  prepared  for  battle  ;  and  as  our  English  poets  relate  of  the  mother  of 
Belinus  and  Brennus,  two  British  princes,  when  they  were  ready,  by  un- 
brotherly  war,  to  decide  the  right  of  a  kingdom." — Barnes.  It  is,  indeed, 
the  most  poetical  circumstance  of  its  kind  in  real  history. 

t  "Thus,"  says  Barnes,  "  was  the  strongcity  of  Tournay  wonderfully  pre- 
served from  utter  ruin,  without  battle  given,  only  by  the  power  of  a  lady's 
tongue,  and  by  the  providence  of  the  Divine  goodness,  which  even  yet  seem- 
ed desirous  to  give  further  warning  to  king  Philip;  and,  as  it  were,  to  offer 
him  one  more  opportunity  for  delilwration,  before  it  would  resign  his  king- 
dom up  to  those  destructions  for  which  already  it  was  marked  out." 

J  Barnes.  204. 


Edward's  want  of  money.  227 

consummation.  An  interval  of  peace  in  such  times  was  so 
much  gained  for  humanity, — a  cessation  of  crimes,  a  respite 
from  sufferings.  But  Philip  had  gained  no  credit  by  his 
conduct  durmg  the  campaign ;  the  policy  which  induced 
him  to  solicit  a  truce  was  less  esteemed  in  public  opinion 
than  the  courage  with  which  Edward  had  entered  an  enemy's 
country,  besieged  one  of  his  great  cities,  and  offered  him 
battle.  On  the  other  hand,  the  conditions  of  the  truce  were 
not  favourable  to  the  king  of  England ;  and  he  had  consent- 
ed to  it  most  unwillingly ;  yielding  less  to  the  urgent  per- 
suasions of  his  friends,  and  half-hearted  allies,  than  to  the 
necessity  of  his  own  affairs.  It  was  most  humiliating  to 
him  to  see  himself  thus  deprived  of  a  victory  which  he  had 
deemed  certain ;  and  to  perceive  also  that  his  German  allies, 
on  whom  he  had  depended,  were  likely  to  fall  off  from  him, 
because  of  the  failure  of  his  pecuniary  supplies.  He  com- 
plained grievously  of  this,  and  imputed  the  fault  chiefly  to 
the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to  whom  the  first  place  in  the 
government  had  been  intrusted  during  his  absence.  The 
primate  had  originally  encouraged  his  enterprise,  and  en- 
gaged to  provide  money  both  for  the  king's  necessities  and 
the  soldiers'  pay ;  "  whereupon,"  said  Edward,  "  we  set  our 
hand  to  great  undertakings,  and  with  great  expense,  as  it 
behooved,  made  our  warlike  provision,  and  bound  ourselves 
in  vast  sums  to  our  confederates.  And  being  busied  in  the 
siege  of  Tournay,  and  exhausted  with  continual  charges,  we 
waited  in  daily  expectation  that  our  promised  aid  would  at 
last  come  to  relieve  us  in  our  so  many  and  so  great  necessi- 
ties. By  many  messengers  and  divers  letters  we  signified  the 
sundry  inconveniences  we  were  exposed  to  for  want  of  the 
promised  aid  ;  as  also  the  great  advantage  and  honour  which 
we  might  easily  obtain  by  a  seasonable  supply.  But  for 
want  thereof  we  were  constrained  to  accept  a  truce,  to  the 
shameful  hindrance  of  our  enterprise,  and  the  no  small  joy 
of  our  adversaries.  And  returning  thereupon  into  Flanders, 
empty  of  money  and  full  of  debts,  neither  our  own  purses 
nor  our  friends'  being  sufficient  to  discharge  our  necessities, 
and  to  pay  off  our  foreign  auxiliaries,  we  were  compelled  to 
plunge  ourselves  into  the  devouring  gulf  of  usury,*  and  to 
submit  our  shoulders  to  the  burden  of  intolerable  obliga- 
tions :  our  faithful  friends,  companions  of  our  labour,  and 
partakers  of  our  troubles,  saying  that  if  we  did  not  apply  a 
speedy  remedy,  they  must  of  necessity  withdraw  from  our 

♦  "Through  defect  of  the  archbishop's  performance,"  says  Speed,  "  he  was 
not  only  constrained  to  give  over  his  hold  for  the  present,  but  to  embog  him- 
■elf  in  the  bankers'  and  usurers'  books."— p  574. 


228  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

service,  and  go  back  from  their  alliance  made  with  us ;  and 
this  must  needs  redound  to  the  subversion  of  our  kingdom, 
our  own  perpetual  infamy,  and  the  eternal  reproach  of  the 
English  nation, — which  God,  our  merciful  Father,  of  his  in- 
finite goodness,  forbid  to  come  to  pass  in  our  days  !"* 
-oji  It  was  less  of  the  parsimony  with  which  supplies 
had  been  granted  that  he  complained,  than  of  the  neg- 
ligence with  which  they  had  been  collected  and  transmitted. 
With  regard  to  the  defects  of  administration,  more,  no  doubt, 
must  be  ascribed  to  inexperience  and  unforeseen  difficulties 
than  to  any  neglect  of  duty.  In  the  course  of  English  his- 
tory, many  mournful  reflections  must  be  excited  in  the 
thoughtful  reader,  when  he  perceives  how  great  an  after-ex- 
penditure of  treasure  and  of  blood  has  been  occasioned  by 
ill-timed  parsimony  in  war.  But  in  this  case  there  was  no 
eventual  evil.  Having  waited  in  vain  for  remittances,  the 
king  left  Ghent  privately,  and  embarked  from  one  of  the 
ports  in  Zeeland,  with  his  queen,  late  in  November:  they 
encountered  such  weather  upon  the  passage,  that  they  were 
for  three  days  and  nights  in  imminent  danger;  and  it  is  not 
unworthy  of  notice,  that  there  were  writers  who  ascribed  this 
storm  to  the  spells  of  French  necromancers  employed  by 
Philip,  in  the  hope  of  either  drowning  the  king,  or  "abating 
his  courage  for  taking  the  sea  again."| 

He  had  not  been  long  in  England,  before  his  serious  at- 
tention was  called  to  the  insults,  outrages,  and  havoc  com- 
mitted upon  the  sea-coast,  and,  as  it  appears,  in  other  parts 
also,  by  pirates,  by  his  enemy  the  French  king,  and  those 
who  favoured  and  assisted  him ;  for  it  seems  that  this  species 
of  hostility  continued  notwithstanding  the  truce.  The  evils 
inflicted  by  this  barbarous  warfare  are  complained  of  in 
terms:^  that  bring  to  mind  the  times  of  Sweyne  and  the  Vi- 
kingr.  His  first  precautionary  measure  was  to  make  a 
league§  between  his  subjects  of  the  Cinque-ports  and  of  the 

*  Barnes,  197,  198.  213.  220. 

t  Fabyan,454.  The  honest  citizen  delivers  this  as  theopinion  of  others, 
without  declaring  his  own,  Barnes  repeats  it,  and  adds, — "  Whatever  was 
the  occasion,  this  is  certain,  that  as  if  king  Edward  had  been  only  destined 
for  the  kingdom  of  France,  which  he  so  greatly  desired,  it  seemed  fatal  for 
him  always,  in  his  passage  thither,  to  ha%'e  calm  seas  and  wind  at  will,  but 
on  his  return,  all  things  contrary ;  so  that  often  he  endured  many  great  losses 
and  shipwrecks.  And  this  was  his  fate  while  his  fortune  stood  fair ;  but 
when  he  began  to  decline,  he  found  the  wind  so  contrary  to  him,  that  by  no 
means  he  could  once  set  his  foot  more  in  France." — p.  212. 

J  "  Quanta  incendia,  strages,  et  dispendia.et  alia  mala  et  fkcinoro,  non 
sine  scandalo  et  opprobrio  nostri  et  totius  regni  nostri  Anglic,  in  costeris 
maris,  et  alibi."— {Hymer,  ii.  part  ii.  1150.)  Elsewhere,  damna  et  grava- 
mina iniestimabilia  are  spoken  of     Ibid.  §  Rymer,  ii.  part  ii.  1150. 


DISPUTE  WITH  GENOA.  229 

city  of  Bayonne,  with  whom  it  may  he  inferred  the  Cinque- 
ports'  men  had  not  been  upon  more  zumicable  terms  than  they 
used  to  be  with  their  eastern  countrymen.  A  circular  order 
was  also  sent  to  all  the  English  ports,  wherein — after  com- 
plaining that  if  their  ships  had  been  made  ready,  pursuant  to 
former  orders,  in  due  time,  for  seeking  and  meeting  the 
enemy,  the  great  damage  which  had  been  done,  and  the  re- 
proach which  had  been  brought  upon  the  kingdom,  might 
have  been  prevented — he  commanded  them  immediately  to 
equip  for  service  every  vessel  of  sixty  tons  burden  and  up- 
wards ;  and  he  summoned  one  or  two  deputies  from  every 
port,  according  to  its  importance,  to  meet  in  London,  and 
there  give  to  him  and  his  council  such  information  as  might 
be  required.* 

The  character  of  the  nation  had  indeed  suffered  by  the  im- 
punity with  which  its  coasts  were  insulted  ;  and  by  the  con- 
clusion of  the  last  campaign,  notwithstanding  the  brilliant 
naval  victory  wherewith  it  had  opened.  Six  Genoese  galleys, 
laden  with  goods  for  Flanders,  and  provided  with  passports 
from  the  constable  of  Bourdeaux,  and  with  Edward's  own 
letters  of  safe-conduct,  were  attacked  and  burnt  by  some 
English  ships.  The  doge,  Simon  Bocanegra,  sent  ambas- 
sadors to  require  reparation,  promising,  that  if  this  were 
promptly  and  fully  rendered,  he  and  his  people  would  no  lon- 
ger afford  any  assistance  to  the  French,  and  would  abstain 
from  all  offensive  acts  against  England.  The  reply  to  this 
was,  that  the  galleys  had  never  produced  or  pleaded  their 
letters  of  protection,  but  had  shown  rather  a  hostile  spirit  : 
that  those  letters  were  only  conditional, — engaging  for  friend- 
ly treatment,  in  case  their  countrymen,  the  Genoese,  ceased 
to  act  as  enemies, — not  otherwise  :  that  this  notoriously  was 
not  the  case ;  the  Genoese  were  aiding  the  king's  enemies 
with  all  their  strength,  and  had  invaded  England,  and  done 
infinite  damage  to  the  English  ;  no  truce  had  been  proclaimed 
on  their  part  when  they  were  met  with ;  and,  therefore,  under 
these  circumstances,  it  was  lawful  to  attack  them.  Never- 
theless, for  the  sake  of  the  old  good  will  which  had  existed 
between  England  and  Genoa,  the  king  consented  to  pay 
10,000/.,  for  which  he  engaged  that  certain  merchants  in 
Flanders  should-  give  sufficient  security.  But  this  the  am- 
bassadors peremptorily  refused  to  accept:  they  made  no 
objection  to  the  amount,  but  insisted  upon  having  plate  or 
jewels  in  pledge ;  and  when  this  was  refused,  they  demand- 
ed, and  in  no  friendly  spirit,  received  their  letters  of  dismis- 

*  Rymer,  ii.  part  ii.  1150. 

Vot.  I.  U 


230  NAVAL  iriSTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

sal.  All  this  was  stated  in  the  king's  name  to  the  doge,  in  a 
calm  and  temperate  letter,  wherein  Edward  said,  that  neither 
his  power,  nor  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  were  so  weakened,  but 
that  he  trusted,  by  the  grace  of  the  Lord,  and  the  justice  of 
his  own  cause,  to  prevail  against  his  enemies.  The  doge, 
however,  was  finally  assured,  that  it  would  be  more  agreea- 
ble to  the  king  if  his  offer  were  accepted,  and  the  old  rela- 
tions of  amity  resumed.*  On  the  part  of  England,  there  was 
an  evident  desire  that  the  matter  should  be  adjusted,  not  from 
regard  to  any  mercantile  relations,  but  in  consideration  of  the 
naval  means  which  the  Genoese  employed  against  her  :  on 
their  part,  they  seem  to  have  found  the  predatory  warfare  so 
gainful,  that  they  protracted  the  dispute. 
1 040  ^"  ^he  ensuing  year,  a  fleet  of  galleys  attacked  and 
burnt  Portsmouth,  and  continuing  upon  that  coast, 
threatened  Southampton  and  the  adjacent  country ;  imme- 
diate measures,  therefore,  were  taken  for  its  defence,  and  the 
whole  force  of  the  country  was  ordered  to  hold  itself  in  readi- 
ness, no  man  absenting  himself  from  the  needful  duty,  on  pain 
of  forfeiting  all  that  he  had  to  forfeit.f  Edward  wanted  no 
such  continued  provocations  to  make  him  eager  for  the  first  op- 
portunity of  renewing  the  war  upon  the  continent ;  and  that 
opportunity  occurred  when  the  succession  to  the  dukedom  of 
Bretagne  was  disputed  between  John  earl  of  Monlford  and 
sir  Charles  de  Blois.  As  in  the  contrariant  claims  to  the 
crown  of  France,  each  claimant  believed  his  own  title  to  be 
good,  so  was  it  in  this  case.  Sir  Charles  was  the  French 
king's  nephew ;  the  king  espoused  his  cause,  in  despite  of 
the  Salic  law,  for  he  claimed  it  in  his  mother's  right ;  and 
Montford,  who  had  forcibly  taken  possession,  and  knew  him- 
self unable  to  withstand  the  power  of  France,  came  over  to 
England,  and  offered  to  hold  his  dukedom  of  Edward  as  true 
king  of  France,  by  fealty  and  homage,  to  him  and  his  heirs 
for  ever.  The  offer  was  accepted;  and  Edward  engaged  to 
defend  him  as  his  liegeman  against  either  Philip  or  any  other 
who  should  disturb  him  in  his  possession.  This  transaction 
was  meant  to  have  been  kept  secret  till  such  protection  should 
become  necessary :  Philip,  however,  obtained  intelligence  of 
it.  Montford  was  surprised  in  Nantes,  and  sent  prisoner  to 
the  Louvre;  and  his  countess,  Margaret,  was  besieged  in 
Hennebon,  from  whence  she  sent  to  solicit  aid  from  Eng- 
land. A  force,  consisting  of  6000  arcliers  and  620  men-at- 
arms,  under  sir  Walter  Manny,  was  despatched  with  all 
speed  to  her  relief.     No  time  was  lost  in  setting  forth ;  but 

♦  Rymer,  ii.  part  ii.  ]15(J.  1211.  t  Ibid.  1210 


COUNTESS  OF  MONTFORD.  231 

the  weather  was  so  stormy  and  adverse,  that  he  was  detained 
the  almost  incredible  time  of  forty  days  upon  the  passage  ; 
and  if  the  place  had  not  been  defended  by  the  countess  her- 
self, the  succour  must  have  arrived  too  late. 

This  remarkable  woman,  who  was  sister  to  the  earl  of 
Flanders,  is  described  as  having  had  the  courage  of  a  man 
and  the  heart  of  a  lion.  When  her  husband  was  made 
prisoner,  she  lost  none  of  that  courage,  but  went  about  to  all 
the  fortresses  and  towns  that  espoused  his  cause,  carrying 
with  her  her  little  son,  and  showing  him  to  the  soldiers  and 
the  people ;  thus  winning  their  affections,  and  securing  their 
fidelity,  as  far  as  it  was  to  be  secured,  by  "  paying  every 
man  well  and  truly  his  wages."  Hennebon,  on  the  river 
Blavet,  was,  at  that  time,  the  strongest  castle  in  all  Bre- 
tagne,  "  standing,"  sa)^s  Froissart,  "  on  a  port  of  the  sea, 
and  the  sea  running  about  it  in  great  dykes."  When  sir 
Charles  of  Blois  had  taken  Rennes,  he  was  advised  to  lay 
siege  to  it,  seeing  that  if  he  could  get  the  countess  and  her 
son  into  his  hands,  the  war  would  be  at  an  end.  Accord- 
ingly, he  encamped  before  it,  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of 
the  town,  besieging  both  it  and  the  castle  on  all  sides,  ex- 
cept where  the  castle  was  open  to  the  sea ;  for  he  had  no 
ships.  The  place  was  well  stored,  and  well  manned.  In 
their  first  attack  upon  the  barriers,  the  assailants  were  re- 
pulsed with  considerable  loss ;  and  when,  on  the  third  day 
of  the  siege,  they  made  a  brave  assault,  they  were  so  bravely 
driven  back,  that  "  the  lords  of  France  were  sore  displeased, 
and  caused  the  assault  to  begin  again  more  fiercer  than  it 
was  before."  The  countess  herself,  clad  in  armour,  and 
mounted  on  a  great  courser,  rode  from  street  to  street,  en- 
couraging the  men ;  and  she  made  the  women  cut  short  their 
kirtles,  and  carry  stones  and  pots  of  quicklime  to  the  walls, 
thence  to  be  cast  down  upon  the  enemies.  She  herself 
ascended  a  tower,  to  see  in  what  manner  the  French  had 
disposed  their  force ;  perceiving  that  they  had  left  their  camp 
unguarded,  she  hastened  down,  collected  about  300  horse, 
and,  putting  herself  at  their  head,  sallied  through  a  gate 
which  was  not  assaulted,  and,  dashing  into  the  camp,  cut 
down  and  set  fire  to  their  tents  and  pavilions.  None  but 
varlets  and  pages  had  been  left  there  :  at  the  outcry  which 
they  raised  the  lords  of  France  looked  back ;  and,  seeing 
their  tents  blazing,  called  off  their  men  from  the  assault, 
with  the  cry  of  "  Treeison  !  trezison  !"  The  countess  saw 
now  that  her  return  was  intercepted,  and  that  she  could  not, 
without  the  greatest  danger,  attempt  to  recover  the  town : 
gathering  together,  therefore,  her  company,  she  made  for 


232  NAVAL  HISTORY   OF  ENGLAND. 

Brest,  about  seven  leases  distant,  where  the  people  were 
on  her  side.  The  marshal  of  the  host,  don  Luis  de  la  Cerda, 
pursued  with  a  greater  number  of  horse,  and  slew  or  wound- 
ed several  who  were  not  well  mounted  ;  but  the  countess 
and  the  greater  part  of  her  company  rode  so  well,  that  they 
gained  Brest,  and  there  they  were  joyfully  received.* 

The  besiegers,  having  lost  most  of  their  tents  and  provi- 
sions, hutted  themselves  nearer  the  town,  in  bowers  made  of 
branches  ;  and  "  mightily  they  marvelled,"  when  they  heard 
that  it  was  the  countess  herself  who  had  headed  this  daring 
exploit.  The  besieged,  on  their  part,  were  less  rejoiced  at 
the  success  of  that  exploit,  than  troubled  for  her  absence : 
what  had  become  of  her  they  knew  not,  and  they  remained 
five  days  in  this  uncertainty;  but  no  suspicion  could  be  en- 
terteiined  that  she  had  abandoned  them,  or  that  she  would  not, 
if  she  were  still  living,  exert  herself  to  the  utmost  for  their 
deliverance.  By  her  exertions,  some  500  men-at-arms  were 
added  to  her  company  :  with  these  she  left  Brest  at  midnight, 
and,  about  sunrise,  passing  unperceived  on  one  side  of  the 
enemy's  camp,  came  safely  to  the  gate  from  whence  she  had 
sallied.  The  trumpets  and  clarions,  with  the  rejoicing  sounds 
of  which  she  entered,  roused  the  French  host.  Provoked  at 
this  exultation,  and  at  their  own  want  of  vigilance,  they  made 
a  fierce  assault,  and  continued  it  till  noon  before  they  were 
beaten  off.  This  failure  convinced  them  that  the  place  was 
not  to  be  taken  by  mere  force  of  personal  courage :  a  council 
was  held,  and  it  was  determined,  that,  while  sir  Charles  of 
Blois  went  with  one  part  of  the  army  to  besiege  Auray,  upon 
the  Morbihan,  don  Luis  with  the  other  should  remain  before 
Hennebon,  and  employ  such  means  against  it  as  the  art  of  en- 
gineering in  that  age  could  supply.  Accordingly,  they  sent 
to  Rennes  for  twelve  great  engines ;  and  with  these  they  cast 
huge  stones  into  the  town  and  castle  day  and  night :  they  bat- 
tered the  walls  also  till  they  were  so  shaken  and  breached  in 
pjirts,  that  the  hearts  of  the  besieged  began  to  fail.  Sir  Henry 
de  Leon,  who  was  the  first  person  of  rank  that  had  declared 
in  favour  of  Montford,  but  had  afterwards  gone  over  to  the 
other  party  upon  some  disgust,  was  one  of  the  principal  per- 
sons in  the  besieging  army.  His  uncle,  the  bishop  of  St.  Pol 
de  Leon,  was  in  the  town,  and  very  much  disposed  in  mind  to 
take  the  same  course,  which  might  be  done  with  more  credit 
to  himself  if  he  could  persuade  the  people  to  capitulate,  and 
obtain,  through  his  nephew,  an  assurance  that  both  their  per- 
sons and  property  should  be  safe.  After  a  conference  with  sir 

Froissart,  chap.  80.     Barnes,  257 


ARRIVAL  OF  ENGLISH  SUCCOURS,  233 

Henry,  in  which,  as  far  as  on  them  depended,  it  had  been  thus 
arranged,  the  bishop  re-entered  the  town.  Tlie  countess  was 
then  in  council  with  her  lords  and  knights  ;  and,  suspecting 
what  had  been  the  object  of  the  bishop's  conference,  she  con- 
jured them,  for  the  love  of  God,  to  take  heart  and  hold  out 
yet  a  little  longer,  saying  she  felt  confident  that,  within  three 
days,  the  long-hoped-for  succours  would  arrive ;  a  confidence 
which  the  change  of  weather  had  rendered  reasonable.  But 
the  bishop  argued  earnestly  upon  the  imprudence  and  the 
danger  of  rejecting  favourable  terms.  Their  opinions  were 
so  divided,  and  their  minds  so  perplexed,  that  they  came  to 
no  decision  that  day  :  after  long  irresolution  and  debate,  the 
timid  part  is  that  which  is  usually  taken ;  when  the  council 
met  in  the  morning,  an  inclination  that  way  was  manifested  ; 
and  if  sir  Henry  had  been  close  at  hand,  and  alert  to  seize 
the  opportunity,  the  place  would  have  been  yielded  to  him. 
Seeing  this,  the  countess  withdrew  in  despair  to  a  window 
which  commanded  the  sea-view;  and,  springing  back  w'ith 
an  emotion  of  sudden  joy,  she  exclaimed,  "  I  see  the  succours 
of  England  ! — the  succours  of  England  !  There  is  the  cross 
of  St.  George  !  God  has  heard  our  prayers  :  He  has  heard 
us  !"  The  lords  ran  presently  to  the  window,  and  the  people 
to  the  walls  and  to  the  high  tower,  and  saw,  indeed,  "  a  great 
number  of  ships,  great  and  small,  freshly  decked,"  making  up 
to  the  port;  and  they  knew  it  to  be  the  English  succours, 
which,  having  been  detained  above  forty  days  by  reason  of 
contrary  winds,  came  happily  now  in  the  very  golden  oppor- 
tunity to  save  the  countess  and  the  town.* 

When  the  seneschal  of  Guingamp,  sir  Pierce  of  Treguier, 
sir  Galeran  of  Landcrnau,  and  the  other  Breton  lords  and 
knights,  saw  that  their  succours  were  indeed  approaching, 
they  said  to  the  bishop,  "  Sir,  you  may  leave  off  this  treaty ; 
for  we  are  not  content,  at  present,  to  follow^  your  counsel !" 
To  which  the  bishop  replied,  "  Then,  sirs,  we  must  now 
part  company ;  for  I  will  betake  me  to  him  that,  as  me  seem- 
eth,  hath  most  right."  Upon  this  he  left  the  town ;  and, 
sending  a  defiance  to  the  countess  and  all  her  abettors,  as  a 
declared  enemy,  joined  his  nephew,  and  was  by  him  present- 
ed to  don  Luis,  and  afterwards  to  Charles  of  Blois.  Orders 
were  given  that  the  engines  should  renew  their  battery,  and 
cast  stones,  without  intermission,  day  and  night.  Meantime 
"  the  countess  dressed  up  halls  and  chambers  to  receive  the 
lords  and  captains  of  England  that  were  coming,  and  set  out 
right  nobly  to  welcome  them  in  the  haven  at  their  landing  ; 

*  Froigeart,  chap.  80.    Batnes,  359. 

v2 


234  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

and,  when  they  were  aland,  she  herself  went  forth  to  meet 
them,  and  showed,  all  along,  great  respect  to  the  captains, 
and  feasted  them  the  best  she  might,  and  gave  them  hearty 
thanks,  and  lodged  all  the  knights  and  others  at  their  ease  in 
the  castle  and  the  town."  The  next  day  she  made  them  a 
great  feast  at  dinner  in  the  castle.  All  night  and  all  that 
morning  the  engines  had  never  ceased  to  cast.  When  dinner 
was  ended,  sir  Walter  Manny,  who  had  inquired  into  the 
state  of  the  town  and  of  the  besieging  army,  said,  "  Sirs,  I 
have  a  great  desire  to  issue  out  and  break  down  this  great  en- 
m.ne  that  standeth  so  near  us,  if  any  will  follow  me."  Sir 
Pierce  of  Treguier  instantly  exclaimed,  that  he  would  not 
feiil  him  on  this  his  first  adventure ;  sir  Galeran  answered  to 
the  same  brave  purport :  they  armed  themselves  immediately, 
and  went  out  privily  at  a  postern,  with  300  archers,  and  some 
40  men-at-arms.  The  archers  shot  so  thick  together,  that ' 
they  who  were  in  charge  of  the  engine  fled  ;  and  the  men-at- 
arms,  coming  after  the  archers,  slew  many  of  those  who  fled, 
and  with  their  axes  beat  do\vn  the  engine,  and  demolished  it. 
Not  satisfied  with  this,  they  ran  in  among  the  tents  and 
lodgings,  set  fire  in  divers  places,  and  laid  about  them,  smit- 
ing and  slaying,  till  the  whole  camp  was  in  a  movement ; 
then  putting  themselves  in  order,  they  began  to  withdraw 
"  fair  and  easily."  The  enemy  followed  with  all  the  impa- 
tience of  irritated  bravery  :  upon  which,  seeing  their  eager- 
ness, sir  Walter  said  aloud,  "  Let  me  never  be  beloved  of 
my  lady,  if  I  do  not  have  a  course  with  one  of  these  pursu- 
ers !"  His  companions  were  not  slow  in  following  his  ex- 
ample: they  encountered  the  foremost  pursuers  ;  and  "then," 
says  Froissart,  "  might  well  have  been  seen  legs  turned  up- 
ward." A  "  sore  medley  followed  ;  those  from  the  camp 
increasing  continually,  and  those  from  the  town  retreating 
steadily,  sir  Walter  showing  himself  not  less  discreet  as  a 
captain  than  valiant  as  a  knight,  and  fighting  in  the  rear  of 
his  men  as  they  retired  to  the  ditches  :  there  he  planted  arch- 
ers on  each  flank ;  and  made  a  stand,  with  his  choice  cap- 
tains around  him,  till  he  saw  the  rest  in  safety.  By  this 
time  all  the  men-at-arms  in  the  town  came  forth  to  support 
their  friends,  and  more  archers  ranged  themselves  on  each 
side  of  the  dyke ;  till  the  enemy,  finding  it  vain  to  make  any 
further  attempt,  thought  it  prudent  to  draw  off";  and  the  Eng- 
lish then  re-entered  the  fortress  safe  and  victoriously."  The 
countess  had  seen  the  whole  of  this  affair  from  the  high 
tower.  She  descended  now,  and  "  came  forth  of  the  castle 
with  a  glad  cheer ;  and,  meeting  Sir  Walter  Manny  and  his 
captains  in  the  street,  she  came  and  kissed  them,"   says 


DON  LUIS  DE  ESPANA.  235 

Froissart,  "  one  after  another,  two  or  three  times,  like  a  va- 
liant lady."* 

This  exploit  of  the  English  and  their  Breton  friends  took 
from  the  enemy  all  hope  of  winning  Hennebon  ;  their  largest 
engine  had  been  destroyed  ;  their  army  weakened  both  in 
numbers  and  in  spirit,  and  the  besieged  strengthened  alike  in 
both.  They  broke  up  the  siege  on  the  following  day,  and 
joined  Charles  of  Blois  before  Auray ;  but  as  Charles  had 
with  him  already  a  force  sufficient  for  that  service,  he  sent 
don  Luis  to  besiege  Dinant.  Don  Luis  de  la  Cerda,  whose 
subsequent  career  connects  these  operations  in  Bretagne  with 
the  naval  history  of  England,  is  called  Don  Luis  of  Spain  by 
the  French  chroniclers ;  -to  whom,  indeed,  his  actions  belong 
more  than  to  the  historians  of  the  country  of  his  fathers.  He 
was  of  royal  descent,  and  allied  to  the  royal  families  of  Cas- 
tile, Arragon,  and  France ;  but  probably  by  birth  a  Fleming, 
his  mother  possessing  large  domains  in  Flanders.  His  fa- 
ther, don  Alonso  el  Desheredado,  had  been  governor  of  Lan- 
guedoc  for  king  Charles  the  Fair  ;  and  he  himself  had  lately 
held  the  office  of  admiral  of  France.f  Of  his  maritime  ser- 
vices before  this  lime,  no  account  seems  to  have  been  pre- 
served ;  nor,  indeed,  has  his  reputation  as  a  naval  commander 
been  in  any  degree  proportionate  to  his  merits  in  that  charac- 
ter: the  English  coasts  were  not  assailed  by  any  other  ene- 
my so  able  and  so  enterprising,  from  the  times  of  Hastings 
to  those  of  Tromj)  and  de  Ruyter. 

On  the  way  to  Dinant,  don  Luis  de  Espana  attacked  a 
castle  called  Comper:  the  assault  lasted  from  evening  till 
midnight :  he  renewed  it  in  the  morning.  The  ditches  were 
not  so  deep  but  tliat  they  could  be  passed  by  wading.  His 
men  succeeded  in  approaching  the  wall ;  made  a  breach 
there,  and  put  the  garrison  to  the  sword,  their  commander 
alone  excepted  :  this  done,  he  garrisoned  it  with  threescore 
chosen  men,  and  proceeded  to  Dinant.  Meantime  a  mes- 
senger from  Comper  had  borne  tidings  to  Hennebon  that  the 
castle  was  attacked  ;  and  the  countess  expressed  a  wish  to 
sir  Walter  Manny  that  it  might  be  relieved  ;  upon  which  he 
drew  out  most  of  the  forces  from  the  town,  and  set  off  at 
daybreak,  with  the  hope  of  giving  battle  to  don  Luis. 
Making  good  speed,  he  came  thither  about  noon,  and  had 
the  vexation  then  to  find  that  it  was  occupied  by  a  garrison 
of  French  and  Spaniards.     "  Sirs,-"  said  he  to  his  people, 

•  Froissart,  chap.  81.    Barnes,  259,  260, 

tGaribay,ii.903.  Palazary  Castro,  Hist.  General  de  laCasade  Lara,  i.  192. 
Mem.  Hist,  del  Rei  Don  Alonso  el  Sabio.  per  cl  Marques  de  Mondejar,  040. 


236  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

"  I  am  not  in  the  mind  to  depart  from  hence  till  I  see  what 
company  are  in  yonder  castle,  and  how  they  came  there." 
So  he  began  the  assault,  and  the  garrison  stood  stiffly  to  their 
defence.  The  English  archers  did  their  part  well,  as  they 
were  ever  wont  to  do;  the  ditch,  meantime,  was  guaged 
with  spears,  and  found  fordable :  the  men-at-arms  crossed 
it :  they  entered  at  the  breach^  which  had  not  yet  been  well 
repaired ;  and  ten  of  the  garrison  were  all  who  were  spared 
in  the  heat  of  their  vengeance.  Sir  Walter  then,  perceiving 
that  the  place  was  not  tenable,  set  it  onjire,  and  returned  to 
Hennebon,  not  thinking  it  prudent  to  go  farther  from  that 
fortress,  now  that  he  had  almost  drained  it  of  men.* 

Don  Luis  de  Espana,  in  the  mean  time,  laid  siege  to  Dinant, 
a  place  not  otherwise  fortified  than  by  a  palisade,  by  its  po- 
sition on  the  river  Ranee,  and  by  a  marsh.  After  failing  in 
an  attack,  he  got  together  some  small  vessels,  which  enabled 
him  to  threaten  it  as  well  by  water  as  by  land ;  the  towns- 
men then  called  upon  their  young  commander,  sir  Reginald 
of  Dinant,  to  surrender ;  and  when  the  high-spirited  youth 
declared  that  he  would  commit  no  such  disloyalty  while  the 
place  w^as  capable  of  being  defended,  they  butchered  him  in 
the  market-place,  and  admitted  the  besiegers.  Having  gar- 
risoned it,  don  Luis  made  for  Guerande,  a  large  town  on  the 
sea-coast,  situated  in  some  salt  marshes  between  the  mouths 
of  the  Vilaine  and  the  Loire.  Several  merchant  ships  were 
lying  there,  which  had  come  laden  with  wine  from  Poictou 
and  Rochelle :  the  merchants  were  come  to  an  unhappy 
market,  for  don  Luis  seized  their  ships  and  all  that  he  found 
therein ;  and,  having  manned  them,  on  the  following  day  he 
attacked  the  place  both  by  sea  and  land.  The  besieged  could 
not  make  good  their  defence  on  both  sides  at  once ;  the  place, 
therefore,  was  carried  by  force, — lightly  carried,  it  is  said, — 
and  yet,  such  were  the  usages  of  war  in  those  days,  which 
were  yet  the  best  days  of  chivalry,  that  all  the  people  therein 
were  put  to  the  sword  without  mercy,  men,  women,  and 
children.  While  the  work  of  plunder  and  massacre  was 
going  on,  five  churches  were  robbed  and  set  on  fire :  don 
Luis  had  no  compunctious  feelings  of  humanity ;  but  he  was 
shocked  at  sacrilege,  and  ordered  four-and-twenty  of  the 
ruffians  in  his  service  to  be  hanged  for  this  offence.  Guerande 
was  a  town  of  great  traffic,  and  his  men  found  more  plunder 
there  than  they  could  bear  away.  After  this  success,  "  they 
wist  not  whither  to  go ;"  but  as  havoc  and  spoil  were  still 
his  objects,  don  Luis  embarked,  with  his  Spaniards  and  Ge- 

*  Froissart,  chap.  82,    Barnes,  800. 


DEFEAT  OF  DON  LUIS.  237 

noese,  in  the  ships  that  he  had  taken,  and  went  coasting 
along,  to  see  what  damage  he  could  do,  and  what  purchase 
he  could  find.  So  sailing  forth  till  he  came  to  that  part  of 
the  province  called  Bretagne  Bretonant,  or  British  Britany, 
because  the  British  or  Armorican  dialect  of  the  Keltic  tongue 
prevailed  there,  he  entered  the  haven  of  Quimperlay,  near 
Quimpercorentin :  there  he  landed,  and  wasted  the  country 
with  fire  and  sword,  as  if  his  intention  was,  not  to  obtain 
possession  of  it  for  Charles  de  Blois,  but  to  inflict  upon  it 
all  the  evils  of  the  most  merciless  warfare.  The  booty  he 
sent  on  board,  while  he  proceeded  farther  into  the  land,  ra- 
vaging all  around.* 

When  this  intelligence  reached  Hennebon,  sir  Walter 
Manny  and  sir  Aymery  de  Clisson  thought  that  a  favourable 
opportunity  was  here  afforded  them  for  striking  a  blow 
against  this  part  of  the  enemy's  force.  They  embarked  with 
3000  archers  and  a  competent  number  of  men-at-arms,  sailed 
to  Quimperlay,  and  finding  don  Luis's  ships  there,  boarded 
them,  and  put  their  crews  to  the  sword.  They  found  m 
them  such  riches,  that  "  they  had  marvel  thereof."  Leaving 
300  archers  to  protect  the  prizes,  and  also  his  own  fleet,  sir 
Walter  landed,  and  marched  in  quest  of  don  Luis ;  dividing 
his  force  into  three  bodies,  that  the  enemy  might  not  escape 
him,  but  moving  them  at  no  great  distance  from  each  other, 
so  that  all  should  be  within  reach  of  sure  support.  In  this 
manner  he  advanced,  having  given  order  to  burn  such  places 
as  had  owned  Charles  de  Blois.  Don  Luis,  as  soon  as  he 
heard  that  there  were  foes  at  hand,  drew  all  his  men  together, 
and  began  to  retreat  towards  his  ships,  not  knowing  what 
had  befallen  them.  On  the  way  he  fell  in  with  one  of  the 
three  English  battalions :  he  prepared  cheerfully  to  fight,  see- 
ing that  he  had  greatly  the  advantage  in  numbers ;  and,  in  the 
expectation  of  victory,  he  made  several  new  knights  upon  the 
field,  among  whom  was  his  nephew  don  Alonso.  This 
done,  the  Spaniards  and  Genoese  "  set  on  fiercely  :"  many 
of  the  English  were  overthrown  on  the  first  rencounter;  and 
they  were  in  danger  of  being  overpowered,  if  the  two  other 
battalions  had  not  been  directed  thither  in  good  time  by  the 
cry  of  the  country  people,  who,  having  good  reason  to  hate 
the  first  invaders,  looked  upon  the  second  as  their  deliverers. 
The  fight  then  became  fiercer :  the  archers  of  England  "  shot 
so  wholly  together"  (for  this  is  the  phrase  by  which  the 
steadiness  and  regularity  with  which  their  volleys  were  dis- 
charged is  expressed),  that  the  enemy  could  no  longer  keep 

•  Froissart,  chap.  83, 84.    Barnes,  261 ,  263. 


238  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

their  array;  and  when  once  they  were  discomfited,  and 
began  to  fly,  the  peasantry  "  fell  on  with  prongs,  and  staves, 
and  stones,  and  slew,  without  mercy,  all  on  whom  they 
could  lay  hands."  It  is  said  that  of  6000  men  scarcely  300 
escaped.  Don  Alonso  was  among  the  slain  :  his  uncle  don 
Luis  did  not  escape  without  several  wounds ;  and  when  he 
reached  the  haven,  he  found  the  English  archers  in  posses- 
sion of  his  ships,  and  thought  himself  fortunate  in  getting, 
with  great  jeopardy,  on  board  a  small  but  swift  bark,  and 
and  sailing  away  as  fast  as  he  could.* 

Sir  Walter,  when  he  heard  of  his  escape,  embarked  in  the 
swiftest  of  his  ships,  and  with  all  speed  pursued,  leaving  the 
expedition  to  re-embark,  and  follow  him.  But  the  Spaniard 
had  the  start  and  sailed  so  well,  that,  before  they  could  come 
up  with  him,  he  had  landed  at  Redon,  on  the  Vilaine,  the 
port  of  Rennes  ;  and  this  he  did  just  in  time  to  mount  him- 
self and  his  people  on  such  horses  as  they  could  find,  and  set 
out  with  all  speed  for  Rennes,  just  as  the  English  reached 
the  shore  :  those  of  his  party  who  were  worst  mounted  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  pursuers.  Turning  back  from  the  pur- 
suit, sir  Walter  remained  that  night  at  Redon,  and  in  the 
morning,  going  again  on  board,  sailed  for  Hennebon ;  but 
being  driven  by  contrary  winds,  he  was  fain  to  land  about 
three  leagues  from  Dinant;  and  leaving  his  ships  there, 
with  a  sufficient  force  for  their  protection,  to  make  their  way 
to  port  when  the  weather  would  permit,  he  took  such  horses 
as  he  could  get,  some  of  them  without  saddles,  and  so 
scouring  the  country  came  to  a  castle  called  Rosteman. 
Looking  at  the  place  with  that  seaman-like  spirit  of  adven- 
ture in  which  military  operations  were  in  that  age  carried  on, 
he  said  to  his  companions,  "  Sirs,  if  our  company  were  not 
so  sore  travelled,  I  would  give  an  assault  to  this  castle."-— 
"  Set  on,  sir,  at  your  pleasure !"  was  the  reply ;  "  for  we 
shall  not  forsake  you,  though  we  die  in  the  quarrel."  So  to 
the  assault  they  went  with  better  will  than  fortune.  Sir 
Gerard  de  Morlaix,  who  was  captain  there,  made  a  brave 
defence;  and  many  of  the  assailants  were  grievously 
wounded.  Among  others,  two  valiant  knights,  sir  John 
Butler  and  sir  Matthew  Trelawny,  were  sore  hurt ;  and  they 
were  carried  aside  into  a  meadow  hard  by,  and  there  laid,  to 
have  their  wounds  looked  to,  while  the  assault  was  con- 
tinued.f 

Now  there  was  a  little  fortress  near  at  hand  called  Le 
Favoet,  of  which  Regne  de  Morlaix,  a  brother  of  sir  Gerard, 

♦  Froissart,  chap.  84.    Barnes,  263.  t  Ibid. 


BUTLER  AND  TRELAWNY  TAKEN.  239 

was  captain.  This  sir  Regne,  hearing  of  his  brother's  danger, 
set  out,  with  forty  spears,  to  his  assistance ;  and  coming,  by 
the  side  of  a  wood,  to  the  meadow  where  the  wounded  were 
laid,  he  easily  made  them  his  prisoners,  and  led  them  to  his 
castle  hurt  as  they  were.  The  obvious  motive  for  this  was 
to  secure  for  himself  their  ransom,  as  a  windfall  which  had 
come  in  his  way;  but,  as  it  happened,  he  could  not  in  any 
other  manner  have  so  effectually  relieved  Rosternan.  For 
those  who  had  been  left  in  the  care  of  the  wounded  carried  the 
tidings  to  sir  Walter ;  and  he  instantly  caused  the  assault  to 
cease,  and  hastened  towards  Favoet  with  all  his  forces,  in  the 
hope  of  rescuing  his  friends.  They  had  been  carried  into 
the  castle  before  he  could  come  up :  he  and  his  men,  weary 
as  they  were,  set  upon  the  place ;  but,  because  a  gallant  de- 
fence was  made,  and  it  began  to  be  late,  they  desisted  for 
the  night,  resolving  to  renew  the  attempt  on  the  morrow. 
During  the  night  sir  Gerard,  knowing  that  the  danger  from 
which  he  was  delivered  had  now  been  drawn  upon  his  bro- 
ther, rode,  without  any  companion,  to  Dinant;  and,  arriving 
there  before  daybreak,  entreated  the  commander,  who  was 
his  old  friend  and  companion  in  anns,  to  assist  him  in  this 
emergency.  The  burgesses  were  assembled  in  the  common 
hall ;  and  sir  Gerard,  with  the  commander's  assistance,  per- 
suaded them,  "  in  such  wise,  that  they  were  content  to  go 
forth,"  and  so  armed  themselves,  and  went  towards  Favoet, 
making  up  a  body  of  some  GOOO  men.  Just  as  sir  Walter 
was  about  lo  renew  the  assault,  one  of  his  espials  brought 
him  intelligence  of  this  movement.  He  and  his  knights 
then  consulted  together,  and  considered  that  "  it  were  great 
danger  for  them,  if  the  men  of  Dinant  should  come  on  them 
on  one  side,  and  sir  Charles  de  Blois  on  the  order,  whereby 
they  might  be  surrounded  ;"  and  they  agreed  that  it  behooved 
them  to  make  their  way  directly,  and  with  all  speed  to  Hen- 
nebon,  and  leave  their  companions  in  prison  till  another  time, 
"when  they  might  amend  it."  It  was  more  easy  for  sir 
Walter  Manny  to  make  such  a  resolution  than  strictly  to  ad- 
here to  it.  They  came  to  a  castle  on  their  return,  called 
Gony  in  the  Forest,  which  the  garrison  had  treacherously 
delivered  up  to  Charles  de  Blois  about  a  fortnight  before. 
In  his  indignation  against  men  who  had  thus  betrayed  so 
strong  a  place,  sir  Walter  halted,  and  declared,  with  a  loud 
voice,  that  "  weary  as  he  was,  he  would  go  no  farther  till  he 
had  given  an  Eissault  to  that  castle,  and  tried  the  demeanour 
of  those  within,  whethej  they  had  as  much  courage  as  they 
had  shown  falsehood."  So  a  fierce  assault  began  :  the  be- 
sieged were  not  backward  in  defending  themselves,  know- 


240  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENOLAXD. 

ing  what  they  had  to  expect  if  they  were  overcome.  Sir 
"Walter  encouraged  his  men,  and  was  ever  one  of  the  fore- 
most :  the  archers  shot  so  quickly,  and  so  close  together, 
that  none  durst  appear  at  the  battlements;  within  a  while 
the  ditch  was  in  one  part  filled  with  turfs  and  wood,  and  the 
pioneers,  under  cover  of  the  archers,  approached  the  wall 
with  pickaxes  and  other  instruments :  a  breach  was  chus 
made,  through  which  the  men-at-arms  entered  perforce,  and 
slew  all  whom  they  found  within.  They  lodged  there  that 
night,  and  on  the  morrow  returned  to  Hennebon.  "And 
when  the  countess,"  says  Froissart,  "  heard  of  their  coming, 
she  came  and  met  them,  and  kissed  them,  and  made  them 
great  cheer,  and  caused  all  the  noblemen  to  dine  with  her 
m  the  castle."* 

The  English  succours  had  saved  Hennebon,  and  had  de- 
stroyed the  Spanish  and  Genoese  land-force ;  but  Charles 
de  Blois  had  made  great  progress  in  conquering  the  province, 
and  was  continually  strengthened  by  French  aid  ;  wherefore 
the  countess  and  sir  Walter  sent  advices  to  king  Edward, 
praying  for  a  greater  force,  and  saying,  that  unless  it  were 
sent,  sir  Charles  would  be  likely  to  bear  down  all  before 
him.  This  chief,  meantime,  having  taken  Carhaix,  after  a 
long  siege,  determined  once  more  to  invest  Hennebon,  though 
he  knew  its  strength,  and  also  that  it  was  abundantly  pro- 
vided ;  but  it  was  now  almost  the  only  important  place  which 
he  had  not  reduced,  and  "  there  lay  the  head  of  the  war, — 
the  countess  and  her  son."  So  thither  he  went,  and  sat 
down  before  the  town.  The  fourth  day  after  this  second 
siege  began,  don  Luis  de  Espana  joined  the  camp,  having 
been  confined  six  weeks  in  the  city  of  Rennes  by  his  wounds. 
He  was  joyfully  welcomed  by  Charles  de  Blois,  and  by  the 
army ;  "  for  he  was  a  knight  much  honoured  and  well  be- 
loved among  them."  His  wounds,  indeed,  were  healed ;  but 
his  defeat,  and,  still  more,  the  loss  of  his  nephew,  rankled  in 
his  heart ;  and  that  sore  feeling  was  inflamed  by  the  taunts 
of  the  garrison,  which,  though  not  directed  against  him  per- 
sonally, were  by  him  felt  and  resented  as  if  they  were.  The 
enemy  had  again  planted  their  engines,  fifteen  or  sixteen  in 
number,  "which  cast  into  the  town  many  a  great  stone  :" 
but  the  townsmen  little  regarded  this,  for  they  had  provided 
against  it  by  means  of  woolpacks,  and  other  such  devices ; 
and  they  would  sometimes  come  to  the  walls,  and,  in  deri- 
sion, wipe  the  place  against  which  a  stone  had  struck,  and 

*  Froissart,  Chron.  85,  86.    Barnes,  363. 


DON  LUIS'S  CRUELTY.  241 

call  out  to  the  besiegers,  "  Go,  messieurs,  and  seek  up  your 
company  who  lie  in  the  fields  of  Quimperlay  !"* 

Excellently  brave  as  don  Luis  was,  there  was  as  little 
sense  of  generosity  in  his  heart  as  of  compassion :  he  had 
in  him  the  obduracy  of  the  Spanish  character,  without  its 
redeeming  virtues.  Going  one  day  into  the  tent  of  sir 
Charles  de  Blois,  he  asked  of  him,  in  the  presence  of  several 
great  lords  of  France,  a  boon,  in  requital  for  all  the  services 
that  he  had  ever  done  him.  Sir  Charles,  who  was  greatly 
bound  to  him,  and  could  not  suspect  that  any  thing  unworthy 
would  be  asked,  readily  promised  to  grant  it.  "  Then,  sir," 
said  don  Luis,  "  I  require  you  to  cause  the  two  knights  who 
are  in  prison  at  Favoet,  namely,  sir  John  Butler,  and  sir 
Matthew  Trelawney,  to  be  brought  hither,  and  given  to  me, 
that  I  may  do  with  them  at  my  pleasure.  Sir,  this  is  the 
boon  that  I  desire  of  you  !  They  have  chased,  discomfited, 
and  hurt  me,  and  slain  my  nephew  Alonso.  And  I  know  no 
better  way  to  be  revenged  of  these  Englishmen,  who  have 
done  me  all  this  mischief,  than  to  strike  off  the  heads  of 
these  two  knights  before  the  town,  in  sight  of  their  com- 
panions." Charles  de  Blois,  who,  being  distinguished  for 
the  better  feelings  of  chivalrj',  was  astonished  at  such  a  de- 
claralion,  made  answer, — "  Certes,  don  Luis,  I  will  give  you 
the  prisoners  with  a  right  good  will,  since  you  have  desired 
them ;  but  surely  it  should  be  a  shameful  deed  so  to  put  to 
death  two  such  valiant  knights ;  and  it  would  be  an  occasion 
for  our  enemies  to  deal  in  like  wise  with  any  of  ours  who 
may  fall  into  their  hands ;  and  we  know  not  what  shall  hap- 
pen. The  chances  of  war  are  divers.  Wherefore  I  entreat  you, 
fair  cousin,  be  better  advised."  Don  Luis  sullenly  replied 
to  this : — "  Sir,  if  ye  keep  not  promise  with  me,  know  this, 
for  truth,  that  I  shall  depart  out  of  your  company,  and  neither 
serve  nor  love  you  again  while  I  live !"  Seeing  him  thus 
peremptory,  sir  Charles  sent  to  Favoet  for  the  two  English 
knights ;  and  early  the  next  morning  they  were  brought  to 
his  tent.  Once  more  sir  Charles  renewed  his  request  in 
their  behalf;  but  don  Luis  was  not  to  be  dissuaded:  he 
swore,  by  God  and  Santiago,  that  they  should  both  lose 
their  heads  after  dinner  in  sight  of  the  town  ;  and  in  the  days 
of  chivalry  a  boon  once  granted  was  held  to  be  irrevocable, 
whatever  might  be  the  consequence,  like  Herod's  promise  to 
the  daughter  of  Herodias.f 

In  every  age,  however  rude  the  art  of  war  may  have  been, 

♦  Froissart,  chap.  80.    Barnes,  2«VJ. 
t  Ibid.  chap.  87.      Ibid.  264. 

Vol.  L  X 


242  NAVAL  inSTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  system  of  espionage  has  been  carried  on, — and  they  who 
pay  well  for  such  service  are  always  well  served.  All  that 
had  past  concerning  these  prisoners  was  faithfully  reported 
to  sir  Walter  Manny  by  one  of  his  espials,  and  he  was 
apprized  also  of  the  exact  hour  at  which  they  were  to  suffer. 
Upon  this  he  called  together  those  in  whom  he  confided  most, 
and  took  counsel  with  them  what  might  best  be  done.  Some 
thought  one  thing,  some  thought  another ;  but  they  wist  not 
what  remedy  to  find,  for  the  enemy's  force  was  too  great  to  be 
encountered  in  plain  field  by  those  of  the  town.  At  length, 
sir  Walter  himself  said,  "  Sirs,  it  would  be  great  honour  to 
us  if  we  might  deliver  yonder  two  knights  from  this  danger ; 
and  if  we  put  it  in  adventure,  even  though  we  should  fail 
thereof,  yet  king  Edward,  our  master,  will  'con  us  much 
thank,'  and  so  will  all  other  noble  men  who  shall  hear  of  the 
case  hereafter;  at  least,  it  will  be  said,  that  we  did  our  de- 
voir. Sirs,  this  is  my  advice,  if  ye  will  follow  it;  for  me- 
thinks  a  man  should  well  adventure  his  body  to  save  the  lives 
of  two  such  valiant  knights : — let  us  divide  ourselves  into 
two  parts  ;  the  one  incontinently  to  pass  out  at  this  gate,  and 
arrange  themselves  on  the  dykes,  thereby  to  stir  the  enemy 
and  to  skirmish  with  them.  I  think  that  all  the  whole  host 
will  come  running  thither.  Sir  Aymery,  you  shall  be  captain 
of  that  company,  and  shall  take  with  you  6000  good  tall 
archers,  and  300  men-of-arms ;  and  I  will  take  with  me  100 
men-of-arms,  and  500  archers,  and  issue  out  at  the  postern 
covertly,  and  dash  into  the  camp  among  their  lodgings  be- 
hind, the  which  I  think  we  shall  find  as  good  as  unguarded, 
I  have  those  with  me  that  will  bring  me  to  the  tent  of  sir 
Charles  de  Blois,  where,  as  I  think,  we  shall  find  the  two 
knights  prisoners;  and,  I  ensure  you,  we  will  do  our  endea- 
vour to  deliver  them."  To  this  proposal  they  readily  agreed, 
and  forthwith  prepared  to  put  it  in  execution.* 

About  the  hour  of  dinner,  sir  Aymery  Clisson  set  open  the 
chief  gate,  which  looked  towards  the  enemy,  and  issued  out 
with  his  company.  Some  of  them  dashed  suddenly  into  the 
skirts  of  the  camp,  and  cut  down  tents,  and  slew  and  hurt 
divers.  The  camp  was  in  a  sudden  uproar ;  and  the  enemy, 
arming  themselves  in  haste,  hastened  to  drive  them  back 
again  into  the  town,  and  they  retired  fair  and  softly  to  their 
main  battle,  not  ceasing  to  skirmish  as  they  thus  fell  back. 
Sir  Aymery,  meantime,  drew  up  his  men  along  the  dyke 
without  the  barriers,  and  placed  the  archers  on  both  flanks 
to  greet  the  enemy  with  their  dreadful  discharge.   The  noise 

*  Froissatt,  Chron.  87.    Barnes,  265 


THE  PRISONERS  RESCUED.  243 

and  cry  was  so  great  that  all  the  besiegers'  host  drew  thither- 
ward, leaving  only  their  pages  and  varlets  in  the  camp.  Sir 
Walter  Manny,  the  while,  sallied  with  his  600  men  from  the 
postern ;  and,  fetching  a  compass  behind  the  camp,  entered 
the  lodgings  of  the  French  lords,  where  there  were  none  to 
resist  him,  for  all  were  at  the  skirmish.  Being  well  guided, 
he  made  straight  to  the  tent  of  sir  Charles  de  Blois,  and  there 
he  found  the  two  knights  prisoners,  with  their  hands  tied 
behind  them,  those  who  were  left  about  them  having  taken 
flight.  Sir  Walter  unbound  them  himself,  mounted  them 
upon  two  good  horses  which  he  had  brought  with  him  for 
that  purpose,  gave  them  each  a  sword,  and  then,  in  all  speed, 
without  doing  or  ueceiving  any  hurt,  returned  the  same  way, 
and  re-entered  Hennebon  with  all  his  company,  where  the 
countess  received  them  with  great  joy;*  and  though  it  is 
not  recorded  that  she  greeted  them  with  her  wonted  salute, 
the  omission  is  more  likely  to  have  been  on  the  chronicler's 
part  than  on  hers. 

All  this  while  they  were  still  fighting  before  the  great 
gate :  but  when  the  varlets  who  fled  at  the  appearance  of  sir 
Walter  came  with  tidings  that  the  two  prisoners  had  been 
rescued,  don  Luis  immediately  suspected  that  it  was  some 
device  of  sir  Charles  de  Blois  to  deceive  him,  and  disap- 
point his  revenge;  he  demanded  angrily  which  way  they 
who  made  the  rescue  had  taken  1  and  when  he  was  told  that 
they  v/ere  gone  towards  Hennebon,  he  retired  from  the  as- 
sault, and  wont  to  his  tent  in  great  displeasure.  Sir  Charles, 
then  perceiving  with  what  intent  the  sally  had  been  made, 
and  perhaps  not  altogether  displeased  at  its  result,  ordered 
his  people  to  draw  off;  and,  as  it  fortuned,  obtained  in  the 
retreat  an  advantage  which  more  than  compensated  any  mor- 
tification that  he  could  have  felt :  for  the  sire  de  Landerneau 
and  the  chastellan  of  Guingamp  pursued  the  retreating  force 
so  eagerly,  that  they  were  made  prisoners,  and  brought  to 
his  tent;  and  there  "  were  so  preached  to,"  that  they  turned 
to  his  part,  and  did  homage  to  him  as  duke  of  Bretagne, 
having,  perhaps,  sought  an  opportunity  of  doing  this  with 
the  least  reproach.  The  countess  lost  by  this  two  persons 
who  had  been  of  great  importance  on  her  side ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  reputation  of  her  brave  garrison  was  in  a 
high  degree  enhanced  ;  insomuch  that,  in  a  day  or  two,  sir 
Charles  called  his  lords  to  counsel.  They  saw  that  Henne- 
bon was  in  itself  so  strong,  and  so  well  fortified  with  men 
of  war,  that  they  should  gain  little  by  continuing  before  it; 

♦  Froissart,  Chron.  87.    Barnes,  265. 


244  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  country,  also,  was  so  wasted  that  they  wist  not  whither 
to  go  for  forage,  and  winter  w^as  at  hand :  they  resolved, 
therefore,  upon  breaking  up  the  siege ;  and  also,  that  if  a 
truce  were  demanded  till  Whitsuntide,  it  should  not  be  re- 
fused. Such  a  truce  accordingly  was  soon  concluded  ;  and 
the  countess,  then  accepting  Edward's  invitation,  embarked 
with  her  son,  about  the  middle  of  December,  under  convoy 
of  the  earl  of  Northampton,  and  arrived  at  Plymouth,  from 
whence  she  was  with  all  due  honour  conveyed  to  the  court. 
"  For  her  sake  king  Edward  renewed  those  public  rejoicings 
which  were  usual  in  his  days,  with  his  accustomed  magnifi- 
cence. All  the  Christmas  holidays  there  were  daily  tourna- 
ments, running  at  the  ring,  dancings,  br.Us,  splendid  colla- 
tions, and  princely  banquets ;  so  that  the  countess  looked 
upon  the  court  of  England  as  another  paradise.  And  here, 
for  many  years,  her  son  was  exercised  in  those  honourable 
methods  of  education  which  fitted  him  for  the  character  he 
was  afterwards  to  bear,  and  enable  him  to  purchase  the  glo- 
rious surname  of  the  Valiant."* 

The  time  of  the  truce  was  actively  employed  in  prepara- 
l„.o  tions  on  both  sides.  Robert  of  Artois,  who  had  been 
created  earl  of  Richmond,  was  appointed  to  command 
the  succours  for  Bretagne :  a  fleet  of  forty-six  sail,  few  or 
none  being  of  great  burden,  was  collected  at  Southampton  : 
he  embarked  there  with  the  countess,  the  earls  of  Salisbury, 
Oxford,  Suffolk,  and  Pembroke,  the  lords  Ralph  Stafford, 
Hugh  Spencer,  Bourchier,  Tiptot,  and  other  nobles.  Charles 
de  Slois  was  not  ignorant  of  the  object  for  which  this  arma- 
ment was  fitted  out ;  and  he  stationed  don  Luis  de  E  spana, 
with  two-and-thirty  sail,  having  on  board  1000  men-at-arms, 
and  3000  Genoese  cross-bowmen,  to  wait  for  them  off  the 
Isle  of  Guernsey.  The  English  were  long  on  the  passeige, 
because  of  contrary  winds :  upon  approaching  Guernsey 
they  descried  the  enemy ;  and  the  seamen,  who  were  at  no 
loss  to  know  what  they  were,  pronounced  them  to  be  Ge- 
noese and  Spaniards,  and  called  upon  the  soldiers  to  arm 
quickly!  "Then  the  Englishmen  sounded  their  trumpets, 
and  reared  up  their  banners  and  standards,  with  their  several 
arms  and  devices,  together  with  St.  George's  banner, — the 
red  cross  of  England;  and  they  set  their  ships  in  order,  the 
archers  being  planted  on  the  decks,  and  then,  as  the  wind 
served  them,  they  sailed  forth."  The  vantage  of  numbers 
was  on  their  side;  but  this  was  counterbalanced  by  the 
greater  bulk  of  the  enemy's  ships,  nine  of  them  being  far 

♦  Froissart,  Chron.  87,  88.    Barnes,  266. 


NAVAL  ACTION.  246 

larger  than  any  in  the  English  fleet;*  and  there  were  zJso 
three  large  galleys,f  in  which  were  the  three  admirals,  don 
Luis,  Carlo  Grimaldi,  and  Odoard  Doria.  When  they  ap- 
proached each  other,  the  Genoese,  who  were  as  celebrated 
in  that  age  for  the  use  of  the  cross-bow  as  the  English  were 
for  the  long,  discharged  their  quarrels,  and  were  answered 
by  a  discharge  of  arrows :  "  there  was  sore  shooting  between 
them,  and  many  hurt  on  both  parts."  But  when  the  lords, 
knights,  and  squires  came  to  near  quarters,  where  sword  and 
spear  could  be  used,  "  there  was  a  hard  fight  and  a  cruel, 
and  right  well  did  they  approve  themselves,  both  the  one 
and  the  other.  The  countess  of  Montford  that  day,"  says 
Froissart,  "  was  well  worth  a  man,  for  she  had  the  heart  of  a 
lion  ;  and  she  had  in  her  hand  a  rusty  but  sharp  sword,  where- 
with she  fought  fiercely.  The  enemy  from  their  high  ships 
threw  down  great  bars  of  iron,  and  other  weapons:^:  prepared 
for  such  service ;  and  thus  they  greatly  annoyed  the  English 
archeTS.§  This  was  an  engagement  that  could  not  but  have 
ended  with  great  loss  on  both  sides  if  it  had  been  carried  to 
a  close.  "But  the  God  of  battles,"  says  old  Joshua,  "or- 
dered it  otherwise ;  for  the  fight  having  begun  about  even- 
ing, a  night  came  upon  them  so  dark  and  dismal,  that  they 
were  all  forced,  as  it  were  by  consent,  to  give  over,  for  they 
could  discern  nothing  to  any  purpose,"  so  that  one  could 
scarcely  know  another.  Hereupon  they  withdrew  asunder, 
and  cast  anchor,  but  still  remained  in  their  harness,  thinking 
to  renew  the  battle  as  soon  as  the  morning  should  give  them 
light.  But  about  midnight  there  arose  such  a  storm,  "  as 
though  all  the  world  should  have  ended,  the  elements  con- 
tending with  as  great  animosity  as  lately  the  two  fleets  had 
joined.  There  was  none  so  hardy  then  but  would  gladly 
have  been  aland,  the  ships  dashing  so  together  that  they 
deemed  all  would  have  riven  to  pieces."  The  lords  of  Eng- 
land then  asked  counsel  of  the  mariners  what  was  best  to 
do ;  and  the  sailors  said,  they  must  make  for  the  land  as 
well  as  they  could,  for  their  vessels  were  not  able  to  ride 

*  Barnes  calls  them  "  Spanish  carricks,  high  built,  and  greater  than  any 
one  of  the  English." 

t  "  Q.ui  se  remonstroient  par-dessus  toutes  ses  autres  nefa."— Froissart. 

X  "  Archegayes,"  Froissart  calls  them,  which  lord  Berners  renders  pieces 
of  timber.  In  Roquefort's  "Glos.saire  do  la  Langue  Romaine,"  the  word 
is  explained  to  mean  a  sort  of  pike  or  lance  which  the  archers  carried  ;  but 
it  is  also  added,  that  "selon  Froissart  c'etoit  une  machine  de  guerre  qu'on 
jetoit  sur  Ics  ennemis." 

S  "  But,  liowever,"  says  old  Joshua,  with  an  Englishman's  feeling  inter- 
polating what  in  itself  is  very  likely,  but  not  warranted  by  his  author, 
"  they  stood  with  their  arrows  ready  nocked,  to  take  off  whatever  head  ap- 
peared'" 

x2 


246  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

out  such  a  storm  :  so  they  drew  up  their  anchors,  and  bear- 
ing but  a  quarter  sail,  got  safely  into  a  little  harbour  not  fax 
from  the  city  of  Vannes.  The  Genoese  and  the  Spaniards 
meantime  stood  out  to  sea,  their  ships  being  better  able  to 
abide  the  brunt  of  the  waves ;  but  if  they  had  come  near  the 
land  they  would,  because  of  their  burden,  have  been  likely 
to  be  wrecked.  Thus  was  the  battle  broken  off,  and  "  no 
man  could  tell  to  whom  to  give  the  honour,  seeing  that  they 
separated  both  against  their  wills."  There  must  have  been 
some  abatement  of  the  weather  for  a  while,  for  the  enemies 
fell  in  with  four  English  victuallers,  which  had  parted  com- 
pany from  the  fleet,  and  these  they  took,  and  "  tailed  them 
to  some  of  their  own  ships :"  but  they  must  soon  have  left 
these  prizes  to  their  fate,  when  the  storm  recommenced  with 
greater  violence.  Two  of  their  fleet  foundered,  with  all  on 
board  :  on  the  second  day,  about  the  hour  of  sunrise,  it  be- 
came still,  and  they  found  that  they  were  off  the  coast  of 
NavEirre,  having  been  driven  sixscore  leagues.  There, 
then,  they  cast  anchor,  and  waited  for  the  tide,  and  when  it 
came,  the  wind  stood  fair  for  Rochelle.  On  the  way  to  that 
port,  they  fell  in  with  four  ships  of  Bayonne,  homeward 
bound  from  Flanders :  these  they  captured ;  and,  in  the 
brutal  spirit  by  which  don  Luis  de  Espana's  exploits  were 
generally  sullied,  put  all  on  board  to  death.* 

This  inhuman  but  indefatigable  commander  soon  refitted 
his  fleet,  and  did  much  damage  upon  the  coasts  of  England, 
and  intercepted  the  communication  between  that  country  and 
Bretagne.  Edward  himself,  stung  by  the  loss  of  his  friend 
and  kinsman,  Robert  of  Artois,  who  had  been  mortally 
wounded  at  Vannes,  had  crossed  the  sea,  and  besieged  that 
city :  the  fleet  which  had  conveyed  him  lay  at  anchor  in  a 
little  port  near.  Don  Luis  had  at  this  time  a  force  of  eight 
galleys,  thirteen  good  barks,  and  thirty  other  vessels ;  and 
having  already  considerably  annoyed  the  English  by  cutting 
off  their  supplies,  he  now  made  a  bold  attempt  upon  their 
ships  in  port.  The  enterprise  had  nearly  proved  as  success- 
ful as  it  was  hardy;  for  having  slain  those  who  were  left 
there  in  defence,  he  had  taken  four  vessels  laden  with  pro- 
visions, and  sunk  three  others  with  all  that  were  therein, 
before  a  detachment  from  the  besieging  army  arrived  to  their 
assistance.  Lest  the  attempt  should  be  repeated,  Edward 
was  advised  to  send  part  of  his  fleet  to  Brest,  and  the  rest  to 
Hennebon.j"  During  the  remainder  of  the  campaign  don 
Luis  kept  the  seas  so  well,  and  watched  the  coast  so  nar- 

*  Proissart,  Cbron.  91,  92.    Barnes,  209,  270. 
t  Ibid.  96.    Ibid.  72.  8L 


THE  RKSOURCES  OF  ENGLAND.  247 

rowly,  that  little  provision  could  be  brought  to  the  kin«r's 
army,  except  with  great  danger;  and  this  was  one  motive 
that  induced  Edward  to  conclude  a  tnice  for  three  years 
between  England  and  France,  and  their  allies.*  This  done, 
he  embarked  for  England  ;f  and  meeting  with  that  ill  for- 
tune which  usually  attended  upon  his  homeward  voyages, 
his  fleet  was  dispersed  by  storms.  One  ship,  with  sir  Piers 
Vele,  his  son  sir  Henry,  and  sir  John  Reyner  on  board,  was 
lost.  The  countess  of  Montford,  after  great  danger,  readied 
one  of  the  Devonshire  ports.  Edward  himself  was  driven 
to  the  coast  of  Spain,  where  a  Spanish  fleet,  "  that  lay 
cruising  about  those  parts,  made  up  to  him  ;  but  beholding 
the  banner  royal  of  England,"  they  treated  him  with  the 
respect  due  to  an  allied  sovereign  :  for  though  many  Span- 
iards were  serving  against  him  under  their  countryman  don 
Luis,  neither  he  nor  they  were  in  the  service  of  their  own 
country.:^ 

War  was  so  verily  the  natural  state  of  man  in  those  tur- 
bulent ages,  that  no  nation  was  free  from  internal  commo- 
tions, unless  it  was  engaged  with  a  foreign  foe.  Both  kings 
employed  this  definite  interval  of  peace  in  preparing  for  hos- 
tilities at  its  termination ;  indeed,  they  had  never  been  en- 
tirely discontinued  either  in  Bretagne  or  in  Guienne.§  Both 
looked  to  their  naval  means.  Philip  entered  into  a  treaty 
with  Alonzo  XI.  of  Castile,  and  engaged  the  Genoese  Boca-' 
negra,  who  was  then  admiral  of  Castile,  to  assist  him  with 
a  fleet :  he  also  built  ships  himself,  and  "  gave  free  leave  to 
any  of  his  subjects  to  cut  down  limber  for  ship-building 
throughout  his  realm,  whereby  the  sea-coast  of  England  was 
afterwards  not  a  little  damnified."||  The  resources  of  Eng- 
land were  not  yet  so  available  for  maritime  as  for  military 
service ;  the  feudal  system  had  made  no  provision  for  it ; 
and  the  tenure  upon  which  the  sea-ports  held  their  privileges 
was  too  irregular,  and  felt  to  be  too  partial  in  its  operation, 
to  be  duly  complied  with.  It  was  a  matter  of  complaint, 
which,  as  local  interests  even  in  those  early  days  w^ere 
always  well  represented,  passed  from  the  ports  to  the  parlia- 
ment, that  the  keeping  of  the  seas,  being  for  the  general 

•  Froissa  rt,  Chron .  98.    Barnes,  S-S. 

tHolinshed(ii.  626.)  says.  "Many  of  the  English  army  returned  home 
throiigtl  France,  so  as  to  pass  over  by  the  narrow  seas  into  England :  but 
the  king  himflelf,  with  a  few  others,  taking  their  ships  to  pass  by  lovg  seas, 
were  marvellously  tormented  by  tempests." 

\  Barnes,  283.  §  P.  Daniel,  iv.  part  ii.  1.T9. 

I  Fox's  Acts  and  Monuments,  i.  437.  P.  Daniel,  iv.  part  li.  141.  Barnes, 
292.    Speed,  575. 


248  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

good,  was  not  at  the  general  cost,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  at 
the  king's  charge,  not  at  that  of  a  part  of  the  community.* 
Another  council,  or  naval  parliament,  as  it  might  almost  be 
called,  was  convened,!  and  representatives  were  summoned 
from  many  more  places  than  on  the  former  convocation ;  none 
of  the  proceedings  have  been  recorded  :  but  it  appears  that 
when  the  Cinque-ports  were  called  upon  to  furnish  a  certain 
number  of  ships  of  war,  they  were  slow  in  obeying ;  and  it 
was  necessary  to  instruct  their  warden,  who  was  the  consta- 
ble of  Dover  Castle,  to  take  measures  for  enforcing  obedi- 
ence.:J:  The  treatj'  between  France  and  Castile,  with  what- 
ever views  on  the  part  of  the  former  power  it  had  been  nego- 
tiated, contained  nothing  that  should  disturb  the  amicable 
relations  between  Castile  and  England;  nevertheless,  when 
so  much  injury  had  been  inflicted  upon  the  commerce  of  Eng- 
land and  Aquitaine  by  Spanish  ships,  it  was  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  the  English  and  Bayonnese  would  always  dis- 
tinguish between  the  ships  of  Castile  and  those  that  were  in 
their  enemy's  service  :  commissioners,  therefore,  w'tere  sent 
to  adjust  any  matters  of  dispute  which  might  thus  have 
arisen.§ 

The  renewal  of  hostilities  was  accelerated  by  some  acts  of 
cruelty  on  the  part  of  the  French  king.  The  Breton  lord,  Oli- 
vier de  Clisson,  had  signally  distinguished  himself  in  the 
service  of  Charles  de  Blois  ;  but  having  been  taken  prisoner 
and  exchanged,  Philip  suspected  that  he  had  entered  into 
.  some  secret  engagements  with  the  king  of  'England.  Under 
^OAA  pretenceof  holding  a  tournament,  Philip  invited  him, 
'  with  ten  other  persons  of  distinction,  who  were  in- 
volved in  the  same  suspicion,  to  Paris :  they  accepted  the 
invitation,  in  the  confidence  either  of  innocence  or  of  security, 
and  went  in  company  of  Charles  de  Blois  ;  and  being  thus 
in  the  toils,  were  seized  and  put  to  death.  It  is  most  likely 
that  the  suspicion  was  founded  on  good  intelligence  ;||  but  no 
proofs  were  adduced  :  there  was  no  trial ;  and  in  those  days 
the  bonds  of  allegiance  were  so  loose,  that  the  chief  who 
passed  from  the  service  of  one  prince  to  another  incurred  lit- 
tle reproach ;  nor  had  there  before  been  any  instance  in  which 

*  Barnes,  3C8.  t  Ryraer,  iii..  part  i.  4. 

t  Ibid.  10.  §It)id.  ix.  12. 

jl  This  is,  indeed,  acknowledged  by  Edward  in  his  letters,  "  De  causi 
guerrjB  contra  Philippum  de  Valesco,  cleroet  pnpulo  csponendft  ;"  wherein, 
among  other  injuries,  he  complains,  "  de  morte  quornndam  nobiliuni,  nobis 
adhaerentiuni,captorum  per  partem  dicti  Philippi  in  Britannia  et  dc  speciali 
prsecepto  suo  Parisiis  ignominiosx  morti  traditorum."  At  the  same  time  it 
IS  evident  that  he  thoucht  they  had  wrongfully  been  put  to  death,  and  had 
committed  no  punishable  offence  in  going  over  to  his  part. 


PiriLIP's  BARBARITY.  249 

such  a  desertion  had  been  punished  with  death.  This  exe- 
cution, therefore,  was  to  the  jrreat  astcmishment  ol"  all  men, 
and  the  infinite  indignation  of  the  nobles,  whose  blood,  till 
now,  was  not  used  to  be  shed  except  in  battle."  The  chief 
sufferer  was  a  ])erson  who,  for  his  own  sake,  was  "  greatly 
bemoaned."  Nor  was  Philip  contented  with  this  punish- 
ment, unless  whatever  ignominy  could  be  inflicted  was  su- 
peradded :  Clisson's  body  was  hanged  in  chains,  and  his 
head  sent  to  Nantes,  there  to  be  fixed  on  a  pole  over  the  gale 
of  the  city.  He  left  a  son  of  his  own  name,  who,  being  then 
a  boy,  was  sent  to  England,  to  be  bred  up  with  the  young 
Montford,  and  who  lived  to  take  such  indiscriminating  ven- 
geance for  his  father,  that  he  won  for  himself  the  hateful  ap- 
pellation of  the  Butcher,  and  no  doubt  gloried  in  deserving  it. 
At  the  same  time  four  knights  of  Normandy  were  put  to 
death — it  is  said  by  famine  (any  cruelty  is  credible  in  the  his- 
tory of  those  ages !) — and  their  heads  were  sent  for  expo- 
sure to  Carentan.  The  news  of  these  executions  was  brought 
to  Edward  by  one,  whose  father,*  and  brother,  and  cousin 
were  among  the  sufferers ;  and  as  they  had  been  put  to  death 
for  having  secretly  become  his  friends,  he  was  urged  to  con- 
sider this  act  of  the  French  king  as  a  violation  of  the  truce, 
and  on  that  ground  to  renew  the  war.  Edward's  first  im- 
pulse was  an  unworthy  one.  Sir  Henry  de  Leon  was  a  pri- 
soner in  his  hands;  the  suspicion  against  Clisson  rested  in 
part  upon  the  circumstance  of  his  having  been  exchanged  in- 
stead of  this  chief;  and  for  that  reason,  perhaps,  as  well  as 
for  that  sir  Henry  was  the  person  by  whose  means  Montford 
had  been  captured,  Edward,  in  his  "  deep  indignation  at  this 
inveterate  malice  of  the  French  king,"  was  minded  to  put 
him  to  death  as  an  act  of  reprisal ;  but  his  cousin,  the  earl  of 
Derby,  a  man  not  less  generous  than  valiant,  showed  to  him 
before  his  council  such  reasons  as  assuaged  his  anger,  or  at 

*  Henry  Malestroit,  who  was  a  deacon  in  holy  orders,  and  master  of  tlie 
requests  to  Philip.  Edward  gave  him  "  a  place  of  good  authority  in  the 
city  of  Valine!!,  wliich  was  then  held  of  England  ;  but  sliorlly  after,  when 
the  truce  was  broken,  it  was  delivered  up  to  the  French  by  the  two  cardinals 
who  were  guarantees  of  the  truce.  There  this  poor  gentleman  being  found, 
was  sent  away  prisoner  to  Paris,  where  he  was  soon  after  put  in  a  tumbril, 
or  dung-cart,  to  which  he  was  fastened  with  chaineiof  iron,  and  so  conveyeii 
bareheaded,  with  great  noise  and  outcries  of  the  people,  from  the  castle 
down  through  the  high  street  of  Paris,  till  he  came  to  the  bislmp's  palace, 
where  they  delivered  him  up  to  the  bishop ;  and  he,  by  virtue  of  a  commis- 
sion purchased  by  king  Philip  from  the  pope,  then  and  there  degraded  and 
deprived  of  all  degrees  and  holy  orders  tlie  gaid  master  Henry,  and  so  deli- 
vered him  back  again  to  the  secular  power.  Then  he  was  judged  to  stand  in 
the  pillory,  at  such  an  hour,  for  three  days  together,  in  the  inost  public  place 
of  the  city ;  but  he  was  so  cruelly  pelted  with  rotten  eggs,  apples,  and  other 
filth  and  ordure  of  the  city,  that  on  the  third  day  he  was  found  dead,  and 
afterwards  had  no  better  burial  than  a  dog."— iJamw. 


250  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF   EXGLANT). 

least  gave  it  a  more  righteous  direction.  "  Sir,"  said  he, 
"  though  king  Philip  in  his  haste  hath  done  so  felonious  a 
deed  as  to  put  to  death  these  worthy  knights,  yet  do  not  you 
blemish  your  valour  by  any  such  act  !  Your  prisoner  ought 
not  to  suffer  for  that  fault :  but  rather  you  should  put  him  to  a 
reasonable  ransom."  Edward  was  a  king  whose  sternest  pur- 
poses gave  way  when  his  sense  of  honour  or  of  humanity  was 
appealed  to.  He  sent  immediately  for  the  prisoner,  and  said 
to  him,  "  Ah,  sir  Henry,  sir  Henry  !  mine  adversary,  Philip 
de  Valois,  hath  shown  his  felony  in  putting  to  death  such 
knights,  wherewith  I  am  sore  displeased,  seeing  that  he  hath 
done  it  in  despite  of  us;  and  if  I  regarded  only  his  felony,  I 
should  serve  ye  in  like  manner,  for  ye  have  done  to  me  and 
mine  more  displeasure  in  Bretagne  than  any  other  person. 
But  I  will  suffer  it,  and  let  him  do  his  worst ;  for  I  will  keep 
mine  honour  as  I  can.  And  for  my  cousin  of  Derby's  sake, 
who  hath  entreated  me  for  you,  I  am  content  that  you  should 
come  to  a  light  ransom,  so  you  will  do  as  I  shall  require 
you."  Sir  Henry  expressed  his  readiness  to  accept  the  con- 
ditions. Then  said  the  king,  "  I  know  well  ye  be  one  of 
the  richest  knights  in  Bretagne,  and  that  if  I  chose  to  press 
you,  you  could  pay  30,000  or  40,000  crowns.*  But  j-ou  shall 
go  to  mine  adversary  Philip  de  Valois,  and  say  to  him  from 
me,  that  since  he  hath  so  shamefully  put  to  death  these  va- 
liant knights  in  my  despite,  I  affirm,  and  will  make  it  good, 
that  he  hath  broken  the  truce  between  me  and  him  ;  where- 
fore I,  on  my  part,  renounce  it  also,  and  defy  him  from  this 
day  forth.  So  ye  will  do  this  message,  your  ransom  shall 
be  but  10,000  crowns,  which  ye  shall  send  to  Bruges  within 
fifteen  days  after  you  have  past  the  sea.  And,  moreover,  j'ou 
shall  say  to  all  knights  and  squires  of  those  parts,  that  not- 
withstanding what  has  thus  happened,  they  need  not  forbear 
from  coming  to  our  feast  at  Windsor ;  for  we  would  gladly 
see  them  there,  and  they  shall  have  sure  and  safe  conduct  to 
return  fifteen  days  after  the  feast."j- 

Sir  Henry  promised  faithfully  to  perform  these  conditions. 
He  embarked  at  Southampton  for  Harfleur ;  but  being  tost 
about  in  tempestuous  weather  for  more  than  a  fortnight,  and 
compelled  to  throw  his  horses  overboard,  he  suffered  so  much 
on  the  passage,  that  he  never  recovered  from  it.  At  length 
he  landed  at  Crotoy,  in  the  mouth  of  the  river  Somme,  from 
whence  he  and  his  people,  bavins  no  means  of  conveyance, 
proceeded  on  foot  to  Abbeville.     They  were  mounted  there ; 

*  The  escu  or  scute  was  then  6s.  Sd. 
t  FroiBsart,  Chron.  99, 101.    Barnes,  300. 


DON  LUIS'S  MACUIXATIOXS.  251 

but  this  exertion  left  him  in  so  bad  a  condition,  that  he  was 
fain  to  be  carried  to  Paris  in  a  litter :  there  he  "  did  his  mes- 
sage from  point  to  point ;"  and  as  he  was  returning  homeward 
into  Bretagne,  died  by  the  way  at  Angiers,  just  upon  the 
borders  of  his  own  country;  "a  very  noble  and  valiant,  but 
unfortunate  gentleman,"  says  Joshua  Barnes,  "who  never 
had  any  rest  or  comfort  after  he  had  betrayed  his  master,  John 
of  Montford." — "  God  assoile  his  soul,"  says  Froissart. 

By  this  time  the  enmity  between  the  kings  of  England  and 
France  had  acquired  the  bitterness  of  personal  animosity. 
Philip  may  have  been  irritated  by  this  defiance;  but  it  could 
neither  increase  his  willingness  for  war,  nor  add  any  new 
impulse  to  the  preparations  for  it,  which  he  was  making  on 
all  sides.  Among  other  persons  he  applied  to  don  Luis  de 
Espana,  who  happened  to  have  at  that  time  a  singular  oppor- 
tunity of  covertly  equipping  an  armament  for  his  service. 
Some  ten  or  fifteen  years  before,*  the  Canary  Islands  had 
been  accidentally  discovered  by  a  French  ship,  which  waB 
driven  thither  by  stress  of  weather.  Don  Luis  being  at  Avig- 
non, as  one  of  the  ambassadors  of  the  French  king,  prevailed 
on  pope  Clement  VL  to  create  him,  in  public  consistory, 
sovereign  of  these  newly  found  lands,  by  the  title  of  "  Prince 
of  the  Fortunate  Islands,"  on  condition  that  he  should  cause 
the  inhabitants  to  be  convei-ted,  hold  his  principality  as  a  fief 
under  the  popes,  and  render  annually  a  certain  tribute  :  "  A 
gift,"  says  Walsingham,  "  which  would  have  proved  worthy 
of  acceptance,  if  his  holiness  could  also  have  given  a  peace- 
able and  quiet  possession  thereof."  In  the  letters  by  which 
this  grant  was  conferred,  the  pope  took  for  a  motto  this  text, 
"I  will  make  thee  a  prince  over  a  great  nation."  The  Eng- 
lish ambassadors,  who  were  then  at  Avignon,  are  said  in 
their  ignorance  to  have  concluded  that  the  pope  had  hereby 
designed  him  to  be  prince  of  the  British  isles,  as  being  among 
the  most  fortunate  islands  in  the  world  ;  and  it  is  added,  that 
under  this  belief  they  secretly  left  Avignon,  and  made  all 
speed  home  with  their  intelligence.  But,  in  truth,  the  recent 
discovery  of  the  Canaries  was  no  secret,  neither  was  the  an- 
cient appellation  which  had  been  applied  to  them  unknown. 
ITie  pope  was  better  affected  towards  France  than  England; 
and  these  ambassadors,  when  they  learnt  that  don  Luis  was 
raising  forces  in  his  own  and  the  pope's  name  throughout 

*  Between  the  years  1.T26  and  1334.  Glass's  History  of  the  Discovery  and 
Conquest  of  the  Canary  Islands,  p.  1.  A  very  good  book  by  a  most  merito- 
rious author,  whose  tragic  fate  called  forth  a  singular  example  of  the  force 
of  religious  principles  in  his  father,  the  founder  of  the  Glassites  or  Sande- 
manians. 


253  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

France,  Italj',  and  Spain,  divined,  which  indeed  was  the  rase, 
that  they  were  intended  against  England.* 

During  the  truce,  John  de  Montford,  in  conformity  to  one 
of  its  stipulations,  had  been  released  from  prison ;  but  on 
condition  that  he  should  neither  go  into  Bretagne,  nor  in  any 
way  interfere  with  the  aifairs  of  that  dutchy.  This  condition, 
as  having  been  extorted  from  him,  he  made  no  scruple  of 
breaking;  and,  effecting  his  escape  to  England,  he  required 
aid-  of  king  Edward  for  recovering  what  he  deemed  his 
1  "ii"  "o^''^-  -^  considerable  force  was  raised  for  this  pur- 
^'  pose,  with  which  he  sailed  about  midsummer ;  and 
having  won  and  sacked  Dinant,  laid  siege  to  Quimperlay ; 
but  being  seized  with  a  calenture,  or  burning  fever,  he  died,]" 
shortly  afterwards,  "  leaving  the  management  of  his  preten- 
sions to  the  conduct  of  his  virago  lady  and  his  young  son 
•Tohn."  His  death  had  the  effect  of  changing  the  direction 
of  the  English  force,  most  of  the  English  passing  into  Gas- 
cony,  that  being  a  scene  where  their  presence  was  then  more 
needed.  The  enemy's  preparations,  indeed,  were  such,  both 
by  sea  and  land,  as  called  for  great  \'igilance  and  great  ex- 
,o.p  ertions  on  Edward's  part.  Philip  was  endeavouring 
not  only  to  animate  the  Scotch  to  an  invasion  of  Eng- 
land, but  to  excite  troubles  in  England  itself.  Orders,:): 
therefore,  were  given  for  enforcing  the  statute  of  Edward  I.§ 
against  all  persons  who  should  "  be  so  hardy  as  to  tell  or 
publbh  any  false  news  or  tales,  whereby  discord,  or  occa- 
sion of  discord  or  slander,  might  grow  between  the  king  and 
his  people,  or  the  great  men  of  the  realm ;"  any  one  so  of- 


*  Bzovius,  xiv.  963.  Hakewell's  Apology,  247.  Heylyn's  Cosmography, 
1005.  Barnes,  30-2.  Tliis  last  industrious  author  rightly  ascribes  to  the 
sagacity  of  the  ambassadors  what  others  had  imputed  to  their  ignorance  ; 
— "  Du  Chpsne  himself,"  he  adds,  "confesses  that  all  this  was  really  intend- 
ed against  king  Edward ;  though,  being  a  Frenchman,  he  qualities  tlie  mat- 
ter, saying  it  was  only  in  order  to  resist  the  new  war,  which  was  lately 
threatened  by  the  mouth  of  sir  Henry  de  Leon." 

t  "One  reports,"  says  Joshua  Barnes,  "that  this  earl  died  distracted, 
many  devils  appearing  at  his  departure ;  and  that,  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
such  a  miillitude  of  ravens  settled  u|ion  the  house  wherein  he  lay,  that  it 
was  thought  the  whole  kingdom  of  France  could  not  have  yielded  such  a 
number.  As  for  his  b^ing  distracted,  I  shall  not  stand  to  question  that ; 
since,  in  a  burning  fever,  many  a  goo<J  man  may  suffer  a  delirium,  and  God 
forbid  that  we  should  always  judge  hardly  thereujion  ;  liut  for  this  horrid 
apparition  it  seems  to  me  not  so  credible.  Nor  could  1  ever  find  any  great 
evil  of  thife  earl,  except  that  now  he  broke  his  word  with  king  Philip,  who 
was  yet  his  enemy,  and  extorted  it  unreasonably  and  violently  from  him: 
nor  if  I  bad  known  him  to  have  been  a  notorious  sinner,  durst  I  ever  give 
the  more  faith  to  this  story."  ^ 

t  Rymer,  iii.  part  i.  72. 

§  3  Edw.  I.  Stat.  West.  pri.  cap.  34. 


Edward's  idka  of  public  opinion.  253 

fending  was  to  be  seized  and  kept  in  prison*  till  he  should 
produce  the  first  author  of  the  tale.  The  punishment  to  be 
inflicted  upon  the  first  author  is  not  expressed,  either  in  the 
original  statute,  or  in  the  order  which  required  it  to  be  vigi- 
lantly enforced  ;  but  there  is  a  law  of  Alfred's,f  by  which 
the  man  who  spreads  a  public  falsehood  was  to  have  his 
tongue  cut  out ;  nor  might  that  mutilation  be  commuted  for 
any  less  price  than  he  must  have  paid  for  his  life.  No  king 
since  the  conquest  had  been  so  popular  as  Edward  III. ;  yet 
so  sensible  was  he  how  greatly  his  strength  might  be  affected 
at  this  time  by  public  opinion,  that  he  addressed  letters  to 
the  provincial  and  other  heads  of  the  Dominicans  (or  preach- 
ing friars)  in  England,  exhorting  them,  for  the  double  pur- 
pose of  silencing  obloquious  tongues,:^  and  informing  the 
understandings  of  his  faithful  subjects,  as  well  as  strength- 
ening their  hearts,  to  explain  themselves  and  the  brethren 
who  were  under  their  authority,  both  in  their  sermons,  and 
in  public  and  private  discourse,  the  cause,  and  the  justice, 
and  the  necessity  of  the  war  in  which  he  was  engaged.  He 
spoke  of  the  heavy  expenses  which  were  brought  upon  him 
by  the  false  dealing  of  Philip,  who  made  use  of  treaties  only 
as  a  cover  for  hostile  machinations  and  movements,  and  who, 
assailing  him  and  his  subjects  by  land  and  by  sea,  threaten- 
ed and  conspired  the  subversion  of  the  English  tongue  ;§ 
and  who  was  then  preparing  a  very  great  fleet  of  ships  and 
mighty  armies  of  men,  with  which  at  once  to  attack  Gas- 
cony,  Bretagne,  and  England,  and  to  invade  him  from  the 
south  of  Scotland :  therefore,  he  said,  he  deemed  it  better 
with  a  strong  hand  to  go  seek  the  enemy  in  their  own  coun- 
try, than  wait  ignobly  at  home  for  the  threatened  danger. 
He  asked  also  for  the  prayers  of  the  devout,  saying  that  it 
was  not  in  earthly  power  that  he  put  his  trust,  but  in  the 
hope  of  Divine  protection,  committing  his  cause  to  the  Su- 
preme Judge,  whom  he  besought  to  deliver  him  from  an  un- 
just and  deceitful  enemy,  and  to  alleviate  the  heavy  bur- 
dens which  were  brought  upon  his  subjects  by  reason  of 

*  Before  the  king  sailed,  part  of  bis  instruction  to  the  lord  mayor  and 
the  sheriff  was.  "  to  look  after  the  spreaders  of  false  news  in  and  about  the 
city,  and  to  apprehend  all  such  persons,  and  lay  them  up  in  the  prison  of 
Newgate."— Bom**,  339. 

t  Canciani,  iv.  252.  "No  legal  apology,"  says  Mr.  Hallam,  "can  be 
made  for  a  proclamation  in  April,  154'J,  addressed  to  all  justices  of  the 
peace,  enjoining  them  to  arrest  sowers  and  tellers  abroad  of  vain  and  forged 
tales  and  lies,  and  to  commit  them  to  the  galleys,  there  to  row  in  chains  aa 
■laves  during  the  king's  pleasure." — Constitutional  Hist,  of  England,  i.40. 

I  "  Ad  obstruendum  orade  nobis  obloquentium." 

§  "In  subvertionem  linguae  Anglicans  couiinaRS  pro  viribui  et  conspi- 
rans"  • 

Vol.  1.  Y 


254  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  war,  and  which  grieved  him  more  than  he  could  ex- 
press.* 

Orders  had  already  been  given  for  arming  the  population 
in  Kent,  and  especially  in  the  isle  of  Thanet,  and  arraying 
them  in  bodies  of  20,  100,  and  1000  men,  to  be  at  all  times 
on  the  alert  for  the  defence  of  the  coast,  which  the  enemy 
were  menacing  in  great  force.f  They  were  now  instructed 
to  have  beacons:^  ready  for  giving  the  alarm  without  the 
least  delay,  and  this  not  in  Kent  alone,  but  over  the  whole 
coast  of  England.  Southampton  Avas  specially  threatened 
as  a  place  to  which  the  invaders  knew  the  way,  and  where 
they  thought  the  very  rumour  of  a  new  invasion  would  strike 
terror.  The  old  injunctions,§  therefore,  for  its  defence  were 
renewed  ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  maritime  counties,  who 
dwelt  within  six  leagues  of  the  coast,  were  exempted  from 
any  other  military  service  or  impost  than  such  as  were  re- 
quired for  local  defence.  The  alarm  was  less  on  account  of 
the  French  or  Scotch,  than  of  the  Genoese  and  Spanish  sea- 
men,||  both  these  being  alike  remarkable  for  their  skill  and 
daring  courage ;  and  as  their  object  was  to  destroy  the  Eng- 
lish shipping  as  well  as  to  ravage  the  coast,  circular  instruc- 
tions were  sent  for  manning  the  ships,  and  guarding  the 
ports  and  the  whole  coast  well.^ 

The  naval  armament  which  Edward  had  prepared  con- 
sisted of  about  700  sail  ;**  but  only  fifty  of  these  were  large 
vessels,  half  of  which  were  king's  ships  and  half  London 
ships :  4000  men-at-arms  were  embarked,  10,000  archers, 
12,000  footmen  of  Wales,  and  6000  Irish.  The  most  chi- 
valrous names  in  English  history  are  in  the  list  of  the 
knights  and  nobles  who  accompanied  the  expedition  :  there 
were  very  few  foreigners,  the  king's  "  German  friends  having 
fallen  off,  together  with  the  emperor;  but  the  lord  Godfrey 
of  Harcourt,  a  valiant  baronff  of  Normandy,  was  there,  at 

*  Rymer,  iii.  part  i.  72.  t  Ibid.  53. 

t  Ibid.  72.  §  Ibid.  78. 

I  "Cum  magnOl  multitudini  arinatorum  de  longinquis  partibus  veni- 
entee." 

IT  Rymer,  iii.  part  i.  87. 

**  The  accounts  vary  from  200  to  1600.  I  follow  Mr.  Bree's  statement, 
who  had  collected  materials  for  a  minute  history  of  this  expedition.  Ships 
of  forstage,  he  says,  these  large  ships  are  called  in  one  manuscript.  The 
number  of  mariners  in  the  king's  ships  was  419,  averaging  not  quite  17  to 
each  ;  in  the  London  ones  the  average  was  about  26.  The  whole  number 
of  seamen  he  states  at  14,451 ;  the  whole  of  the  military  at  26,804.  There 
was  one  ship  from  Ireland  with  184  mariners,  which  from  that  number  one 
would  imagine  must  have  been  the  largest  in  the  whole  armament. — Cur- 
sory Sketch,  110—112. 

tt  "  He  had  fallen,"  says  Froissart,   "  in  the  indignation  of  the  French 


1 


EDWARD  EMBARKS  FOR  FRANCE.  255 

this  time,  inflaming  the  king's  mind  against  his  native 
country  upon  all  occasions."  Before  Edward  embsurked,  he 
addressed  his  captain  and  officers,  and  his  speech  was  com- 
municated to  the  whole  army.  He  briefly  slated  that  he  had 
more  right  than  Philip  of  Valois  to  the  crown  of  France ;  and 
said,  that  as  soon  as  he  arrived  in  that  country,  it  was  his 
determination  to  send  back  his  navy.  Therefore  it  behooved 
them  to  be  valiant,  and  either  win  the  land  with  their 
^words,  or  resolve  to  perish  there,  for  they  could  have  no 
place  to  fly  to ;  but  if  any  one  was  in  doubt  or  fear  to  pass 
the  sea  with  him,  now  that  his  purpose  was  declared,  he 
might  freely  say  so,  and  have  his  good  leave  to  stay  at  home. 
To  this  sort  of  appeal  there  can  be  but  one  reply  ;  and  he 
was  accordingly  answered,  as  with  one  voice,  that  they 
would  follow  him  as  their  good  and  dear  lord,  with  a  good 
will,  even  to  death.* 

Then  the  king  delivered  his  sealed  letters  to  the  admirals 
of  the  fleet,  commanding  them  not  to  open  them,  unless  they 
should  be  separated  by  stress  of  weather.  It  was  now  the 
end  of  June ;  and  they  sailed  from  Southampton,  making 
down  the  channel,  as  if  their  course  was  designed  for  Bay- 
onne  or  Bourdeaux,  to  relieve  Aio^illon,  then  closely  be- 
sieged, and  most  heroically  defended.  On  the  third  day 
there  arose  a  contrary  wind,  when  they  were  far  on  their  way, 
and  drove  the  whole  fleet  back  upon  the  coast  of  Cornwall, 
but  without  injury.  Six  days  they  lay  at  anchor  there,  wait- 
ing till  the  wind  should  become  favourable :  they  then  set 
forward  again ;  but  a  like  wind,  in  the  same  manner,  drove 
them  back  again  to  the  same  place,  without  any  damage,  as 
before ;  which  chance  happening  thus  twice  together,  and 
the  wind  still  continuing  against  them,  the  lord  Godfrey  of 
Harcourt  took  hold  of  that  occasion  to  divert  the  king  from 
Gascony  to  Normandy,  a  province  which  had  not  been  the 
scene  of  war  for  two  whole  ages.     "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  the 

king ;  and  it  was  said,  all  was  but  for  envy  :  for  a  little  before  he  was  as 

freat  with  the  king,  and  with  the  duke  of  Normandy,  as  he  would  desire  ; 
ut  he  was  as  then  openly  banished  the  realm  of  France,  and  if  the  king 
could  have  got  him  in  his  ire,  he  would  have  served  him  as  he  did  sir  Oliver 
of  Clisson,  who  was  beheaded  the  year  before  at  Paris.  This  sir  Godfrey 
had  some  friends,  who  gave  him  warning  secretly ;  then  he  avoided  the 
realm  as  soon  as  he  might,  and  went  into  Brabant  to  the  duke  t^ere,  who 
was  his  cousin,  and  there  he  tarried  a  long  space,  and  lived  of  such  revenues 
as  he  bad  in  Brabant,  for  out  of  France  he  could  get  nothing  ;  the  king  had 
seized  all  bis  lands  there,  and  took  the  proht  thereof  himself  The  duke  of 
Brabant  could  in  no  wise  get  this  knight  again  into  the  king's  favour,  for 
nothing  that  he  could  do.  This  displeasure  cost  greatly  the  realm  of  France 
after,  especially  the  country  of  Normandy,  for  the  tokens  thereof  remained 
a  hundred  years  afler."— cap.  114. 
*  Barnes,  3X1. 


^' 


256  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

country  of  Normandy  is  one  of  the  most  plentiful  countries  of 
the  world,  and  if  ye  will  make  thither,  on  jeopardy  of  my  head, 
there  is  none  that  shall  resist  you.  The  people  of  Nor- 
mandy have  not  been  used  to  war;  and  all  the  lords,  knights, 
and  esquires  of  the  country,  are  now  with  the  duke  at  the 
siege  before  Aiguillon.  And  here,  sir,  you  shall  meet  with 
great  towns  that  are  not  walled,  whereby  your  men  shall 
have  such  winning,  that  they  shall  be  the  better  for  it  twenty 
years  hence  ;  and  thus  you  may  proceed,  without  any  hinder- 
ance,  till  you  come  to  the  great  city  of  Caen.  I  beseech 
you,  sir,  put  some  confidence  in  me  in  this  matter,  for  I  know 
that  country  well."  Edward,  who  looJced  on  Harcourt  as 
his  friend,  and  called  him  cousin,  and  whose  plans  were  not 
so  maturely  fixed  but  that  he  was  ready  to  follow  whitherso- 
ever opportunity  might  seem  to  invite  him,  readily  inclined 
to  this  counsel,  bade  the  pilots  steer  for  Normandy,  and, 
taking  into  his  own  ship  the  earl  of  Warwick's  standard 
(who  was  chief  admiral),  said  that  he  himself  would  be  ad- 
miral in  that  expedition,  and  so  set  forward  as  governor  of 
the  fleet.* 

"  And  now,"  says  Barnes,  "  as  if  Heaven  consented  to 
all  this,  he  had  wind  at  will."  Seldom,  indeed,  if  ever, 
have  such  momentous  consequences  ensued  from  a  seemingly 
fortuitous  change  of  purpose.  On  the  11th  of  July,  the 
whole  fleet  arrived  safely  at  the  road  of  La  Hogue  St.  Vast, 
within  a  few  leagues  of  St.  Sauveur  la  Vicomte,  lord  God- 
frey de  Harcourt's  right  heritage,  of  which  he  had  been  un- 
justly deprived.  Edward,  to  show  how  eagerly  his  heart 
was  set  upon  the  undertaking,  would  be  the  first  to  land,  and 
leaping  hastily  on  shore,  "  the  first  foot  that  he  set  on  the 
ground  he  fell  so  rudely  that  the  blood  burst  out  of  his  nose. 
The  knights  that  were  about  him  raised  him  up,  and  said, 
'  Sir,  for  God's  sake,  enter  again  into  your  ship,  and  come 
not  on  land  this  day,  for  this  is  but  an  evil  sign  for  us !' — 
'  Nay,'  said  the  king,  '  this  is  a  good  token,  for  it  shows 
that  the  land  desireth  to  have  me.'  "f  A  more  pensive  ob- 
server of  tokens — and  there  is  no  superstition  to  which  we 
are  more  prone — might  have  interpreted  it  far  otherwise, 
and  said  that  the  land  was  athirst  for  blood ; — the  next  hun- 
dred years  wofully  verified  such  an  interpretation ! 

Edward's  determination  of  carrying  the  war  into  the  ene- 
my's country,  instead  of  waiting  for  it  on  his  own  shores, 

*  Proissart,  Chron.  121.    Barnes,  339—341. 

t  Froissart,  Chron.  122>  Barnes,  344.  Old  Joshua  says  here,  with  a 
quaint  pedantry  unusual  in  him,  "  that,  by  a  sudden  antispasis,  or  contrary 
attraction  the  blood  gushed  out  of  bis  nose." 


EDWARD  BESIE6ES  CALAIS.  257 

was  as  politic  as  it  was  magnanimous.  The  French  king 
had  formed  a  like  intention ;  he  had  built  ships  (one  at  Har- 
fleur  is  said  to  have  been  of  incredible  magnitude),  and  he 
was  daily  expecting  a  powerful  squadron  from  Genoa.  But 
such  preparations  were  too  tardy :  the  sins  of  England  were 
not  now  to  be  punished  by  a  foreign  enemy,  nor  was  the 
visitation  that  impended  over  France  to  be  averted  by  the 

Eolicy  of  which  Philip  had  formerly  availed  himself.  The 
ing  of  England  was  no  longer  at  the  head  of  a  force  that 
consisted  chiefly  of  subsidized  troops,  and  allies  on  whose 
stability  little  confidence  could  be  placed,  but  with  the  flower 
of  his  own  chivalry,  and  the  strength  of  his  own  people, — 
English  archers,  and  English  hearts  and  hands,  men  who 
were  of  one  language,  and  of  one  mind  and  mould,  on  whose 
conduct  and  courage  he  could  rely  in  any  extremity  of  dan- 
ger. It  is  not  consistent  with  the  design  of  this  work  to 
pursue  the  destructive  course  of  his  army  through  Normandy, 
nor  the  ravages  which  it  committed  within  sight  of  Paris, 
nor  the  battle  of  Cressy — that  famous  victory,  one  of  the 
most  signal  that  has  ever  been  achieved,  and  one  of  those 
which  have  left  the  deepest  and  most  enduring  remembrance 
in  the  feelings  of  two  great  nations.  From  the  time  of  his 
landing  in  Normandy,*  Edward  had  determined  upon  laying 
siege  to  Calais,  because  it  was  the  *'  most  convenient  land- 
ing place  for  any  out  of  England  to  set  footing  in  France ;" 
and  also,  because  it  had  "  done  many  great  displeasures  to 
him  and  his  people,  by  its  piracies  exercised  on  the  English 
seas."  Calais  was  at  that  time  "  a  place  of  incredible 
strength,  as  well  for  its  advantageous  situation,  as  for  those 
wonderful  accessions  of  art  which  made  it  almost  impreg- 
nable by  any  human  power."  Edward,  however,  knew  that 
what  could  not  be  won  by  force  might  be  subdued  by  famine, 
and  that  after  such  a  defeat  as  France  had  suffered,  no  effort 
that  she  could  make  would  be  in  time  for  relieving  the  town. 
On  the  last  day  of  August  he  pitched  his  camp  before  Ca- 
lais, "  that  strong  town  which  had  been  of  old  so  great  a 
nuisance  to  him  and  his  kingdom."  He  invested  it  at  the 
same  time  by  sea  and  by  land,  the  fleet  arriving  from  Eng- 
land at  this  juncture,  under  the  lord  high  admiral,  William 
Clinton,  earl  of  Huntingdon,  and  the  lord  John  Montgomery, 
vice-admiral.  The  maritime  force  which  was  kept  up  during 
the  continuance  of  the  siege  might  well  be  called  a  "  mighty 
navy,"  though  but  a  small  part  of  it  could  at  any  time  have 
been  employed  in  blockading  the  harbour  and  watching  the 

♦  Barnes,  348. 

y  2 


258  NAVAX  HISTORY   OF  ENGLAND. 

coast ;  for  from  authentic  documents,  the  number  of  vessels 
is  known  to  have  been  738,  and  the  mariners  14,956.* 
Philip,  who  could  undertake  nothing  for  its  relief  by  land, 
made  great  efforts  to  throw  in  supplies  by  sea.  To  prevent 
this,  Edward  erected  strong  works  between  the  town  and 
the  sea  :  f  they  were  guarded  by  archers  and  slingers,  who 
watched  the  victual-boats  night  and  day ;  "  for  the  people 
of  Boulogne  used  in  little  boats  and  bylanders  to  steal  along 
the  shore  by  night,  or  in  misty  weather."  Once  the  admiral 
of  France  came  up,  making  a  demonstration  as  if  he  would 
engage  the  English  fleet,  with  a  view  that  a  flotilla  of  small 
boats  meantime  might  get  into  the  town ;  but  the  earl  of 
Northampton  put  him  to  flight  with  great  loss,  and  most  of 
the  boats  were  taken.  The  siege  had  continued  more  than 
JOJ.7  six  weeks,  when  a  little  after  Easter,  early  one  morn- 
ing, thirty  Norman  ships  and  galleys  eluded  the  vigi- 
Isuice  of  the  English  fleet,  victualled  the  town,  and  effected 
their  retreat  with  little  or  no  hurt.  "  From  that  time  the 
king  caused  the  mouth  of  the  haven  to  be  quite  blocked  up, 
and  the  earl  of  Warwick,  with  eighty  tall  ships,  scoured  the 
channel   between  Calais  and   Dover."    That  admiral  got 


*  Hakluyt  has  printed  the  roll  of  the  huge  fleet  of  Edward  III.  before 
Calais,  extant  in  the  king's  great  wardrobe  in  London,  whereby  the  won- 
derful strength  of  England  by  sea  in  those  days  may  appear.  The  south 
fleet  consisted  of  493  sail,  and  9630  men  ;  the  north  of  -2i7  sail,  4531  men. 
There  were,  33  foreign  ships,  in  which  one  from  Ireland  was  included;  the 
others  were,  15  from  Bayonne,  7  from  Spain,  14  from  Flanders,  and  1  from 
Gelderland:  the  numbers  on  board  these  foreigners  amounted  to  805. 
•■  The  sum  of  expenses,  as  well  of  wages  and  presls,  as  for  the  expenses  of 
the  king's  houses,  and  for  other  gifts  and  rewards,  ships,  and  other  things 
necessary  to  the  parties  of  France  and  Normandy,  and  before  Calais,  during 
the  siege  there,  as  it  appeareth  in  the  accounts  of  William  Norwel,  keeper 
of  the  king's  wardrobe,  from  the  21st  day  of  April,  in  the  eighteenth  year 
of  the  reign  of  the  said  king,  unto  the  24th  day  of  November,  in  the  one- 
aud-twentieth  year  of  his  reign,  is  337,051/.  9«.  id."— Hakluyt,  lib.  118—121. 

t  "  A  strong  castle  and  a  high,  to  close  up  the  passage  by  the  sea;"  (lord 
Berners  has  not  specifled  in  his  translation  that  it  was  constructed  wholly 
of  wood :— /t  charpenter  un  chaatel  de  longs  mes-riens;)  "and  this  castle 
was  well  fortified  with  springalles,  bombardes,  bowes,  and  other  artillery , 
and  in  this  castle  were  threescore  men-of  arms,  and  two  hundred  archers; 
they  kept  the  haven  in  such  wise,  that  nothing  could  come  in  nor  out." — 
Froissarl,  cap.  144.  "Then  the  king  made  all  his  navy  to  draw  along  by 
the  coast  of  the  Downs,  every  ship  well  garnished  with  bombards,  cross- 
bowers,  archers,  springalles,  and  other  artillery,  whereby  the  French  host 
might  not  pass  that  way." — Ibid.  145.  If  this  authority  were  sufficient,  it 
would  show  that  cannon  were  used,  not  only  in  the  works,  but  on  board  the 
English  ships.  It  is  remarkable  that  there  should  be  any  doubt  concerning 
this,  and  that  the  first  introduction  of  such  deadly  instruments  should  not 
be  distinctly  specified  by  the  writers  of  that  age.  Froissart's  use  of  the 
word  bombard  is  not  sufficient  proof.  Joshua  Barnes  (362)  is  of  opinion 
that  they  were  not  used  ;  though,  he  says,  that  in  a  record  of  the  fourteenth 
year  of  EMward  III.,  six  years  before  the  battle  of  Cressy,  mention  is  made 
of  thirty-two  tons  of  powder.    The  question  is,  what  that  powder  was  ? 


A  TROCE  CONCLUDED.  269 

eight  of  twelve  Genoese  galleys,  convoying  seventy  sail  of 
stout  ships,  all  laden  with  provision  and  stores  for  the  gar- 
rison ;  the  Genoese  fled  upon  his  approach,  and  the  whole 
convoy  was  taken.  The  French,  and  the  Genoese  in  their 
service,  were  not,  however,  idle ;  at  several  times  during  the 
siege,  they  destroyed  or  captured  fifteen  of  Edward's  best 
ships  of  war.  But  most  of  the  little  relief  that  reached  the 
besieged  was  introduced  by  two  gallant  seamen,  Marant  ^nd 
Mestreil  by  name,  inhabitants  of  Abbeville.  These  brave 
and  enterprising  men  "  often  comforted  and  refreshed  the 
Caliscans,  by  bringing  in  to  them  a-nights  provision  in  light 
boats,  whereby  they  exposed  themselves  to  much  danger, 
being  often  chased  ;  but  they  always  escaped  :  and  not  only 
so,  but  in  dark  nights  they  would  come  silently  in  their  small 
boats  to  the  skirts  of  the  fleet,  and  bore  holes  through  their 
big  vessels  something  below  the  surface  of  the  water, 
whereby  not  a  few  men  were  drowned,  the  ships  being  full 
of  water  before  they  could  find  a  leak."*  The  last  hope 
of  the  garrison  failed  when  the  earl  of  Oxford  and  the  lord 
Walter  Manny,  on  their  way  with  reinforcements  from  Eng- 
land, intercepted  a  French  fleet,  and  carried  in  as  prizes  the 
ships  which  were  bound  for  their  relief.  | 

So  much  gallantry,  and  perseverance,  and  generosity  were 
displayed  on  both  sides  at  the  siege  of  Calais,  that  the  histo- 
rians of  either  country  may  relate  the  details  with  a  just 
feeling  of  national  pride.  When  Edward  had  secured  his 
conquest,  and  a  truce  of  a  few  weeks  had  been  made,  he  em- 
barked for  his  own  country,  with  the  queen  and  the  Black 
Prince,  and,  as  usual,  in  his  homeward  voyage,  encountered 
dreadful  weather,  by  which  many  vessels  with  all  on  board 
were  lost.  "  St.  Mary,  my  blessed  Lady,"  he  is  reported  to 
have  exclaimed,  "  what  should  be  the  meaning  of  this,  that 
always  in  my  passage  for  France,  the  winds  and  seas  befriend 
me,  but  on  my  return  to  England,  I  meet  with  nothing  but 
storms  and  tempests  V  It  was  probably  during  the  danger 
of  this  passage  that  he  made  a  vow  of  building  a  monastery 
to  the  honour  of  God  and  our  Lady  of  Grace,  if  they  would 
graciously  bring  him  safe  to  land  :  in  pursuance  of  which 
vow,  he  founded  the  Cistertian  abbey  of  St.  Mary  of  Grace 
(which  was  called  also  Eastminster  and  New  Abbey),  near 
East  Smithfield.ij: 

The  truce  was  pieced  up  from  time  to  time,  and  spun  on  by 
divers  prorogations,  though  in  Gascony  it  was  little  regard- 

*  Barnes,  309.    Froissart,  chap.  140.  |  Barnea,  403. 

X  Barnes,  413.  437. 


J 


260  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

ed,  and  in  Bretagne  still  less,  on  either  part.  "  Now,"  says 
Barnes,  "  doth  king  Edward  III.  seem  to  stand  in  the  full 
zenith  of  his  glories — crowned  at  home  in  his  family,  with  a 
lovely  row  of  hopeful  children,  and  a  virtuous  and  beautiful 
consort ;  in  his  kingdoms,  with  peace  and  full  prosperity ; 
and  abroad  he  was  renowned  above  all  the  kings  of  the  earth 
for  his  victories  by  sea  and  by  land,  in  Scotland,  France,  and 
Bretagne ;  for  set  battles,  or  taking  of  towns ;  for  kings  slain, 
kings  routed,  and  kings  taken  captive.  Nor  was  his  mode- 
ration less  admired  and  commended  which  he  showed  in  re- 
fusing the  title  and  dignity  of  an  emperor.  Now,  by  means 
of  so  honourable  a  peace  (a  truce  prolonged  through  several 
years  was  felt  as  such  by  the  people),  founded  on  so  many 
remarkable  victories,  it  seemed  as  if  the  golden  age  was  re- 
duced to  England,  and  a  new  sun  began  to  shine  in  our  hori- 
zon ;  so  great  riches  and  plenty,  the  usual  attendants  of  con- 
quest, bemg  generally  diffused  over  the  face  of  the  whole 
land.*  For  there  were  few  women  that  were  housekeepers 
within  this  land,  but  they  had  some  furniture  of  household  that 
had  been  brought  to  them  out  of  France,  as  part  of  the  spoil : 
scarce  a  lady  or  gentlewoman  of  any  account  which  had  not  in 
her  possession  some  precious  household  stuff,  as  rich  gowns, 
beds,  counterpanes,  hangings,  linen,  silks,  furs,  cups  of  gold 
and  silver,  porcelain  and  crystal,  bracelets,  chains  and  neck- 
laces, brought  from  Caen,  Calais,  or  other  cities  beyond  sea. 
And  yet  as  the  Roman  historians  complain  that  they  were 
overcome  by  the  luxury  and  fashions  of  the  nations  they  had 
conquered,  so  from  this  time  the  native  candour  and  simpli- 
ftity  of  the  English  nation  did  visibly  impair,  and  pride,  super- 
fluity, and  vanity  began  to  lift  up  their  hateful  heads,  till  they 
provoked  the  Author  of  the  world  to  visit  their  land  also  with 
his  awakening  judgments." 

The  previous  history  of  England  will  not  justify  us  in  im- 
puting any  such  "  native  candour  and  simplicity"  to  our 
ancestors,  as  the  honest  and  simple-hearted  historian  of  Ed- 
ward III,  has  here  ascribed  to  them.    But  the  history  of  other 

»  When  Caen  was  taken,  where  the  English  "  tarried  three  days  gather- 
ing the  spoil,  because  they  made  resistance,  and  were  taken  by  force,  there 
were  found,  as  one  reckons,  among  other  riches  of  gold  and  silver  and  the 
like,  no  less  than  40,000  pieces  of  fine  cloth,  silks,  and  linen,  beside  other 
wares  proportionable:  all  which  the  king  sent  down  the  river  Orne  to  Es- 
trehan,  where  the  navy  lay,  to  be  carried  to  St.  Sauveur  le  Vicomte  ;  from 
whence,  soon  after,  by  the  king's  command,  the  earl  of  Huntingdon  convey- 
ed all  into  England,  as  well  cloth  and  other  stuff  for  garments,  vessels  of 
gold  and  silver,  jewels,  and  other  riches,  as  all  the  prisoners,  whereof  in  thia 
bout  at  Caen  there  were  no  less  than  86  great  lords,  barons,  and  knights, 
and  above  300  rich  citizens." — Barnes,  346. 

t  Barnes,  416.    Holinsbed,  i.  649. 


THE  GREAT  PESTILEN'CE.  261 

countries,  as  well  as  of  our  own,  may  teach  us  that,  upon  any 
great  and  rapid  influx  or  creation  of  wealth,  a  great  change 
ensues  in  the  manners  of  the  people,  and  that  that  change  is 
inevitably  accompanied  with  great  evil.  Men's  minds  re- 
ceive an  impulse  which  is  too  powerful  to  be  salutary,  and 
which  more  easily,  because  it  may  be  feared  more  naturally, 
takes  the  direction  of  evil  than  of  good.  The  regular  course 
of  quiet  and  contented  industry  is  unsettled ;  habits  of  waste- 
ful and  emulous  expenditure  are  introduced ;  and  means  for 
these,  when  extraordinary  supplies  begin  to  fail,  must  be 
supplied  by  exactions  from  the  inferior  classes ;  so  that  while 
the  rich  become  richer  and  more  powerful,  the  condition  of 
the  poor  is  rendered,  not  relatively  alone,  but  actually  worse. 
The  wealth  brought  from  the  East  Indies,  when  the  Europe- 
ans first  established  themselves  on  the  Malabar  coast,  pro- 
duced this  effect  in  Portugal ;  the  spoils  of  the  west  pro- 
duced it  in  Spain ;  and  the  growth  of  our  manufacturing 
system  has  made  us  feel  it  wofuUy  in  these  times.  But  the 
immediate  operation  of  any  such  rapid  prosperity  upon  the 
morals  of  a  nation  is  worse,  when,  as  in  Edward's  age,  it  is 
the  direct  result  of  war,  the  open  and  undisguised  meed  of 
rapine  and  violence.  That  king  entered  into  his  contest  with 
France  at  first  from  motives  of  personal  ambition,  for  the  re- 
covery of  what  he  deemed  his  hereditary  right,  and  he  pur- 
sued the  war  upon  views  of  sound  policy,  considering  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  he  was  placed ;  but  it  was  rendered 
popular  as  soon  as  it  became  successful,  by  the  temptations 
which  it  held  out  to  the  bold  and  the  rapacious  :  and  it  was  un- 
questionably considered  by  the  great  body  of  those  who  were- 
engaged  in  it,  a  predatory  war.  And  as  wealth  acquired  by 
such  means  never  brought  with  it  a  blessing  to  the  possessor, 
so  wars  conducted  in  that  spirit  have  ever,  in  the  righteous 
course  of  retribution,  drawn  after  them  their  punishment. 

During  the  truce,  a  pestilence  the  most  terrible  that  . „  .^ 
has  ever  yet  been  recorded,  beginning  in  the  farthest 
east,  and  taking  its  course  through  the  Levant,  and  Italy, 
and  Germany,  visited  France  and  England.  Here  it  first 
appeared,  about  the  beginning  of  August,  in  the  sea-ports  of 
Dorset,  Devon,  and  Somersetshire,  from  whence  it  reached 
Bristol.  The  Gloucestershire  men  forbade  all  intercourse 
with  the  Bristolians :  "  but  this  familiar  fury,"  says  the  his- 
torian, "wanted  no  medium  to  introduce  it ;  for  as  the  Scrip- 
ture saith  of  the  pestilence,  that  it  walketh  in  darkness,  or 
invisibly,  its  progress  not  being  to  be  found  out,  so,  unex- 
pectedly and  contrary  to  human  precaution,  this  plague 
walked,  or  rather  flew,  among  the  Gloucestershire  men. 


262  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

whence  it  went  to  Oxford,  and  about  the  first  of  November 
it  reached  London;  finally,  it  spread  itself  all  over  England, 
scattering  everywhere  such  ruin  and  desolation,  that  of  all 
sorts  hardly  the  tenth  person  was  left  alive."  More  than 
50,000  persons  were  cut  off  by  it  in  one  year  in  London, 
and  a  greater  number  in  half  that  time  in  Norwich.  The 
courts  of  justice  were  closed  in  consideration  of  this  grievous 
mortality,  and  the  session  of  parliament  suspended  for  more 
than  two  years.  The  pope,  meantime,  ceased  not  to  exhort, 
by  his  letters,  both  the  kings  of  England  and  France  to  a 
final  agreement,  "  that  they  might  so  avoid  the  severe  stroke 
of  God's  vengeance,  assuring  them  that  all  these  things 
happened  as  a  punishment  for  the  sins  of  mankind.  Having," 
said  he,  "  our  confidence  in  Him,  in  whose  hands  are  the 
hearts  of  kings,  we  resolve  by  no  means  to  desist  from  the 
prosecution  of  the  treaty  already  begun ;  but  intend  by  so 
much  the  more  effectually  and  carefully  to  promote  it,  by 
how  much  the  more  the  miserable  state  of  the  world  requires 
it  at  a  time,  when  He,  who  is  a  jealous  God,  and  the  Lord 
of  vengeance,  being  provoked  with  the  multitude  of  sins, 
which  charity  doth  not  cover,  but  wrath  increases,  is  con- 
suming it  in  His  anger,  by  the  general  ravages  of  an  un- 
heard-of pestilence."  He  urged  them,  therefore,  earnestly 
to  come  to  an  agreement,  lest,  "  which,"  he  said,  "  God  for- 
bid, that  small  flock  which  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  who 
woundeth  and  healeth,  hath  preserved  like  seed-corn  from 
this  destruction,  should  now  be  drowned  in  the  waves  of 
commotion,  and  swallowed  up  in  the  miserable  tempest  of 


war 


"# 


The  result  of  this  mediation  was,  that  Edward  was,  by 
these  pious  exhortations,  so  far  prevailed  on  as  to  send  com- 
missioners to  treat  with  those  of  the  French  king.  The 
persons  appointed  were  the  bishop  of  Norwich,  the  earls  of 
Lancaster,  Suffolk,  and  Northampton,  and  the  lords  Walter 
Manny,  Robert  Bouchier,  Ralph  Stafford,  and  Richard  Tal- 
bot. The  conference  was  held  between  Calais  and  St. 
Omer's,  the  bishop  of  Lyons,  the  abbot  of  St.  Dennis,  and 
two  cardinals  being  present  on  the  pope's  behalf  to  mode- 
rate between  the  two  parties.  The  French  insisted  that 
Calais  should  be  restored;  finding  that  England  would  on 
no  terms  consent  to  this,  they  then  proposed  that  it  should 
be  razed  to  the  ground,  and  this  also  was  as  peremptorily 
refused.  At  length,  by  the  urgent  intercession  of  the  mode- 
rators, it  was  agreed,  that  if  a  final  peace  (for  which  con- 

*  Baroes,  437. 


i 


DEATH  OF  KING  PHILIP.  263 

ferences  were  to  be  held)  could  not  be  concluded  by  the 
September  following,  the  crown  of  France  should,  hj  con- 
sent of  both  parties,  be  brought  to  a  certain  convenient  place 
within  that  realm,  and  the  right  thereto,  without  any  other 
trial  or  appeal,  be  there  decided  by  a  pitched  battle.*  Such 
a  resolution  is  so  consonant  to  the  spirit  of  those  times,  that 
we  may  be  assured  it  was  proposed  and  accepted  in  good 
faith ;  but  had  it  come  to  this,  there  would  have  been  no  su- 
perior authority,  as  in  case  of  the  ordinary  wager  by  battle, 
to  have  enforced  acquiescence  in  the  result ;  and  certain  it  is, 
that  the  losing  party  would  have  acquiesced  no  longer  than 
till  it  found  itself  strong  enough  to  provoke  another  trial. 
But  before  the  month  of  September,  king  Philip  died ;  and 
by  repeated  negotiations  with  his  successor,  king  Jean,  the 
truce  was  from  time  to  time  prolonged.  If  Edward  could 
have  obtained  a  secure  peace  for  his  hereditary  possessions 
on  the  continent,  and  for  Calais,  the  possession  of  which 
was  deemed  necessary  for  his  sovereignty  of  the  seas,  it 
seems  that  he  would  have  been  contented  to  waive  his  claims 
to  the  crown  of  France.  The  heat  of  his  ambition  had  past 
away  with  youth;  and,  indeed,  nothing  could  add  to  the 
glory  which  he  had  attained.  Knights,  not  from  France 
only  and  the  nearer  parts  of  Europe,  but  from  distant  Ar- 
menia, came  to  decide  their  differences  by  single  combat  in 
his  presence.  There  was  a  splendour  attached  to  his  name, 
and  his  court,  and  his  round-table,  and  his  order  of  the  gar- 
ter, exceeding  that  of  any  other  Christian  prince  since 
Charlemagne ;  and  Windsor  became  in  the  romances  of  the 
next  generation  what  the  courts  of  Arthur  and  of  Charle- 
magne had  been  in  the  preceding  age,  and  in  other  cycles  of 
romance. 

The  truce  afforded  little  security  for  the  seas,  or  the  sea- 
coast.  Don  Luis  de  Espana,  who  diedf  during  the  siege  of 
Calais,  had  been  succeeded  by  his  son  don  Carlos  de  la  Cerda, 
a  man  as  brave  and  as  enterprising  as  himself,  and  who  seems 
to  have  inherited  his  bitter  cruelty  towards  the  English. 
The  constable  of  France  having  been  made  prisoner  at  Cressy, 
he  was  appointed  to  hold  the  office,  and  he  was  also  made 
count  of  Angoul^me ;  but  at  this  time  he  was  in  command 
of  a  Spanish  fleet,  and  finding  a  ready  pretext  in  some  of 
those  disputes  which  were  continually  arising  between  the 
subjects  of  maritime  nations,  he  "  beset  the  British  sea  with 


*  Barnes.  437. 

t  Barnes,  405.  Salazar  (Hist,  de  La  Caaa  de  Lara,  torn.  i.  192.)  is  roiitaken 
lu  sa>'ing  that  he  fell  gloriously  at  the  battle  of  Cressy. 


/ 


264  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

a  force  of  forty-four  tall  men  of  war.  E  ncountering  with  ten 
English  merchant  ships,  laden  with  wine  from  Gascony,  they 
boarded,  won,  rifled,  and  sunk  them ;  and  many  more  evils 
they  did  about  the  coasts  of  Aquitaine  and  England,  as  firing 
ships  which  they  found  at  anchor,  robbing  and  killing  our 
merchants,  and  what  other  Englishmen  fell  into  their  hands. 
At  length  they  entered  the  harbour  of  Sluys.  The  mischief 
they  had  done  was  very  great,*  and  much  more  they  threat- 
ened ;  for,  collecting  a  great  armament  in  the  Flemish  ports, 
they  talked,  like  their  successors  in  the  armada,  of  nothing 
less  than  the  invasion  and  conquest  of  England.f  Edward 
had  the  more  reason  to  complain  of  this,  because  he  had 
sought  to  confirm  the  old  relations  of  amity  and  consanguinity 
which  had  existed  between  the  royal  families  of  Castile  and 
England ;  and  his  daughter  Joan,  having  been  espoused  by 
proxy  to  the  prince  D.  Pedro,  had  died  in  Spain,  on  her  way 
to  join  him,  of  the  pestilence,  so  that  the  prince,  who  came  to 
meet  her  and  solemnize  the  espousals,:}:  followed  her  corpse 
to  its  funeral ; — a  happy  deliverance  for  her,  and  the  first 
tragic  circumstance  in  the  tragical  history  of  Pedro  the  Cruel. 
Two  years  had  not  elapsed  smce  her  death,  and  Pedro,  dur- 
ing that  interval,  had  succeeded  to  the  throne.  Well,  there- 
fore, might  Edward  feel  the  more  aggrieved  by  hostilities 
■which  he  felt  on  his  part  to  have  been  wholly  unprovoked, 
and  which  were  carried  on  in  a  spirit  as  insolent  as  it  was 
cruel. 

He  made  preparations,  therefore,  not  only  for  the  defence 
of  the  sea-coast,  but  for  going,  in  person,  to  seek  the  enemy 
and  give  them  battle  on  the  seas.  This  determination  was 
announced  to  the  two  archbishops,  and  they  were  enjoined, 
with  processions,  prayers,  masses,  oflferings,  and  other  so- 
lemnities, by  which  they  deemed  the  Lord  might  be  propi- 
tiated, to  call  upon  Him  who  is  the  giver  of  all  victory,  and 
who  had  of  late  so  signally  extended  the  right  hand  of  his 
protection  over  the  English  army.     A  fleet  of  fifty  ships  and 

*  "  Gentes  nostras,  mercatores  videlicit  et  alios  per  mare  cum  vinis  lanis, 
et  aliis  mercimoniis  et  bonis  suis  navigantes,  quamplurii's  hostiliter  inva- 
serunt,  et  bonis  suis  hiijusmodi  depredarunt  ac  immaniter  truciderunt  et 
interfecerunt,  partemgue  non  modicam  navigii  destruiemnt,  et  alia  mala 
innumera  perpetr&runt,  et  indies  perpetrare  uon  desiatunt." — Rymer,  in. 
part  i.  201. 

t  "  Jamqae  in  tantam  erecti  sunt  superbim  quod  immensai  classe  in 
parti  bus  Flandrice,  per  ipsos  congregate,  et  gentibus  armatis  vallate,  necnon 
Be  navigium  nostrum  in  totum  yelle  destruere,  et  mari  Anglicanodnminari 
jactare  presumunt  sed  regnum  nostrum  invadere,  populumque  nobis  sub- 
Jectum,  extermineo  subdere  velle  expresse  comminantur." — Rymer,  iii. 
part  i.  202. 

}  Barnes,  438. 


\ 


DEFEAT  OF  THE  SPANISH  FLEET.  265 

pinnaces  was  collected,  and  Edward  embarked  at  Sandwich, 
with  the  Black  Prince,  then  in  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age, 
the  earls  of  Lancaster,  Northampton,  Warwick,  Salisbury, 
Arundel ,  Hunt]  n  gdon ,  Gloucester,  and  other  lords  and  knights, 
with  their  several  retinues,  and  a  good  number  of  stout  arch- 
ers, on  whom  the  English  at  this  time  placed  as  much  reli- 
ance in  naval  warfare  as  in  the  field.  On  the  29th  of  August, 
abput  the  hour  of  matins,  he  fell  in  with  them  off  the  coasts 
of  Rye  and  Winchelsea.  There  in  no  mention  of  .„,„ 
galleys  on  either  side  in  the  action  that  ensued ; 
though  Edward  had  two  years  before  obtained  twelve  from 
Genoa,  equipped  and  manned  there,*  and  had  appointed 
Amerigo  de  Pavia  to  the  command  of  all  his  galleys,  and  of 
all  on  board,  arbalisters  as  well  as  seamen.f  The  Spaniards 
seem  to  have  discovered  that  such  vessels  were  not  well 
adapted  for  the  British  seas,  and  to  have  relied,  as  they  did 
two  centuries  later,  on  the  superior  strength  and  magnitude 
of  their  ships.  There  began  a  fierce  engagement  between  the 
two  fleets,  the  Spanish  huge  carracks  easily  overlooking  the 
English  vessels,  and  almost  overwhelming  them  with  a  storm 
of  cross-bow  shot,  stones,  timbers,  and  bars  of  iron,  that  flew 
incessantly  from  their  high-built  castles.  But  the  archers  of 
England  pierced  their  arbalisters  with  a  farther  reach  than 
they  could  strike  again, — one  of  the  advantages  of  the  arrow- 
over  the  quarrel:}:  being,  that  it  went  much  farther,  and  with 
a  surer  aim.  Our  bowmen  thus  compelled  them  to  appear 
more  rarely  on  the  decks,  obliging  those,  also,  who  fought 
on  the  hatches,  to  cover  themselves  with  planks  and  tables, 
and  fetching  down  with  their  "  winged  messengers"  such  as 
threw  stones  from  the  tops  of  their  ships.  "And  then^" 
continues  the  historian  of  this  martial  reign,  "after  a  long 
and  doubtful  fight,  the  English  men-of-arms  began  to  board 
the  Spanish  vessels  with  swords,  lances,  halberds,  and  bat- 
tle-axes in  their  hands,  cruelly  slaying  and  tumbling  over- 
board all  they  met  with,  to  make  room  for  new  guests  which 
king  Edward  had  brought  with  him  for  that  purpose." 
When  evening  closed,  seventeen^  of  the  enemies'  ships  had 
been  taken,  "  when,  all  out  of  season,"  says  old  Joshua, 
who  would  have  stopt  the  sun  and  moon  that  day  if  he  might, 
"  envious  night  came  on  to  befriend  the  Spaniards,  but  to 
deprive  the  English  of  an  absolute  and  entire  victory.     For 

*  Rymer,  iii.  part  i.  117.  t  Ibid.  159. 

X  Only,  indeed,  when  the  wind  blew  strong  the  crossbow  would  be  the 
more  serviceable  arm. 

§  This  is  the  lowest  statement ;  some  accounts  say  twenty-two,  others 
twenty -six. 

Vol.1.  '     Z 


266  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

hereby  they  were  fain  to  cast  anchor,  and  to  desist  from  pur- 
suing their  good  beginnings,  being  forced  to  abandon  a  fur- 
ther trial  till  the  next  day.  And  therefore,  as  supposing 
nothing  done  to  purpose  while  any  thing  remained  undone, 
they  fell  to  dressing  their  own  wounded,  but  flung  the  mise- 
rable Spaniards  into  the  sea  whereon  they  had  so  lately  tres- 
passed."* This  was  no  doubt  considered  as  an  act  of  due 
though  dreadful  retaliation. 

"Then  having  taken  their  repast,  and  set  the  watch,  they 
waited  for  the  morning;  but  being  freshly  apparelled  for 
fight,  when  day  came,  they  looked  all  about  over  the  seas, 
but  saw  no  sign  of  any  thing  to  resist  them,  for  Don  Carlos 
had  escaped  with  the  remainder  of  his  fleet  under  cover  of 
the  darkness."  The  English  lost  no  ship  in  this  great  vic- 
tory, but  it  was  not  obtained  without  great  loss  of  lives. 
The  king,  we  are  told,  thought  it  too  dearly  purchased  with 
that  of  sir  John  Goldesborough,  "  a  young  knight  of  great 
valour,  of  comely  shape,  and  noble  deportment,"  who  was 
much  lamented  by  Edward  and  by  the  Black  Prince,  "to 
whom  he  was  always  very  dear,  upon  the  account  of  his  ex- 
traordinary qualities,  and  almost  equal  age,  and  conformity 
of  will  and  inclination."  No  fewer  than  fourscore  youths, 
who  had  distinguished  themselves  in  this  action,  were  re- 
warded with  the  honour  of  knighthood.  The  fleet  then  re- 
turned ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  commissioners  were 
sent  to  Flanders  to  treat  for  an  accommodation  with  the  Spa- 
niards at  Sluys,  and  in  other  parts  of  that  country,  as  if  it 
were  with  them,  and  not  with  the  Spanish  government,  that 
the  war  had  arisen,,  and  was  to  be  terminated. f  Hostilities 
seem  to  have  ceased  herewith ;  and  next  year  a  peace  was 
made  between  the  two  crowns  for  twenty  years.:}: 

Meanwhile,  though  the  truce  with  France  was  not  ended, 
^,y..  "  each  party  took  the  liberty,  as  they  saw  advantage, 
*  to  enterprise  somewhat  upon  the  other."  In  one  en- 
terprise from  Calais,  the  king's  cousin,  Henry,  duke  of 
Lancaster  (the  first  Englishman  who  bore  the  title  of  duke, 
the  Black  Prince,  as  duke  of  Cornwall,  excepted),  burnt 
the  suburbs  of  Boulogne  to  the  very  walls;  and,  failing  in 
an  attempt  upon  the  town  itself,  by  reason  that  his  scaling 
ladders  were  too  short,  fired  all  the  vessels  in  the  haven :  he 
did  the  same  at  E staples,  and  upon  his  circuit  back,  burnt 
above  100  vessels  in  the  inland  ports.§  The  differences 
which  gave  occasion  to  these  inroads  were  soon  adjusted, 

*  Barnes,  451,452.  t  Kymer,  iii.  part  i.210. 

X  Barnes,  459.  §  Ibid.  459. 


FRENCH  KINO  BROUGHT  TO  ENGLAND.  267 

and  a  farther  truce  agreed  on,  with  this  honest  condition, 
that  either  king  might  renounce  it  whenever  he  pleased. 
During  this  kind  of  insecure  peace,  those  who  infested  the 
seas  were  considered  as  pirates,  and  seem  indeed  to  have 
had  no  pretension  to  any  better  appellation.  A  squadron  of 
seven  men  of  war,  with  certain  pinnaces  to  attend  them,  was 
fitted  out  under  sir  Thomas  Cook  and  sir  Richard  Tottlesham 
to  scour  the  coast  of  Picardy  and  Normandy ;  and  this  ser- 
vice was  successfully  performed.*  But  though  at  this  time 
the  reputation  which  Edward  had  obtained  by  his  naval  vic- 
tories was  such  that  he  was  called  king  of  the  sea,|  and  his 
naval  force  was  at  this  time  greater  than  at  any  earlier  or 
later  part  of  his  reign,  the  country  was  not  secure  from  the 
threat  of  invasion  nor  from  the  fear  of  it.  The  enemy  loco 
made  preparations  for  invading  the  isle  of  Wight, 
with  the  intention  of  fortifying  themselves  there ;  and,  pro- 
bably, in  hope  of  compelling  the  English  to  give  up  Calais 
in  exchange  for  it:  all  the  inhabitants  capable  of  bearing 
arms  were  therefore  arrayed,  and  beacons  made  ready,  and 
orders  given  that  no  provisions  should  be  exported  from  the 
island. f  The  alarm  extended  beyond  those  places  which 
were  immediately  on  the  coast ;  and  so  many  of  the  inha- 
bitants of  Winchester  removed  from  that  city,  alleging,  as 
their  motive,  not  the  fear  of  danger,  but  the  pressure  of  those 
charges  to  which  they  were  liable  for  local  and  maritime  de- 
fence, that  the  city  was  left  in  a  state  of  insecurity  by  this 
desertion  ;  and  all  such  persons  were  ordered  to  return  thither, 
on  pain  of  having  their  goods  distrained. § 

Unhappily  for  France,  these  protracted  truces,  and  ,  „c^ 
the  irritation  produced  on  both  sides  by  mutual  in- 
fractions, ended  in  open  war,  in  another  invasion  of  that  king- 
dom, not  by  Edward  himself,  but  by  his  son,  the  most  heroic 
name  in  English  history — Edward  the  Black  Prince,  and  in 
another  victory,  more  glorious  in  its  circumstances,  if  that 
were  possible,  to  English  valour,  than  the  battle  of  Cressy, 
and  more  disastrous  in  its  results  to  France.  The  three  es- 
tates, who  took  upon  themselves  the  government  after  the 
capture  of  the  king,  prepared  two  great  fleets,  in  the  hope  of 
rescuing  him  on  his  passage  to  England.    He  was  "  in  a  good 

*  Barnes,  464. 

t  "  La  navie  du  dit  roiaulme  estoit  en  toutz  portz  i  bonnes  villes  sur 
meer  el  sur  rivieres  si  noble  et  si  plenteouse,  que  tous  lez  pais  tenoient  et 
appelloient  notre  avaunt-dit  seigneur  le  roi  de  la  meer,  et  lui  et  tout  son 
pais  dotoient  le  pluis  par  mer  et  par  terre,  per  caase  de  la  dite  navie." — Rot. 
Pari.  46  Edw.  IIL    Bree's  Cursory  SkeUh,  176. 

X  Rymer,  iii.  part  i.  33d,  339.  §  Ibid.  338, 


268  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

ship  by  himself,  lest  he  should  conceive  any  offence  or  moles- 
tation ;"  this  being  conformable  to  that  highly  honourable 
respect  with  which  he  had  been  treated  from  the  time  of  the 
battle ;  but  200  men-at-arms  and  2000  archers  kept  close  be- 
side him ;  and  the  Black  Prince,  who  was  in  the  fleet,  sailed 
with  such  a  force,  that,  though  they  were  eleven  days  on  the 
passage  from  Gascony  to  Sandwich,  no  attempt  was  made  to 
intercept  them.* 

This  victory  led  to  no  peace,  though  the  pope,  with  a  view 
of  embarrassing  Edward,  and  thereby  compelling  him  to 
close  upon  any  terms  his  dispute  with  France,  demanded  of 
him  the  arrears  of  the  tribute  which  king  John  had  promised, 
and  which  had  not  been  paid  since  his  time,  140  years  having 
elapsed.  "  But  he  who,  besides  his  own  courageous  heart, 
had  both  a  more  loving  clergy  and  loyal  baronage  than  had 
that  unfortunate  king  John,  answered,  wisely  and  roundly, 
that  he  would  never  pay  tribute  to  any  mortal  whatsoever, 
because  he  held  his  kingdom,  and  would  continue  to  hold  it, 
freely,  and  without  subjection  to  any  one,  but  only  to  Al- 
mighty God. "I  A  truce,  however,  was  made  till  midsum- 
mer, 1359,  and  one  for  ten  years  with  Scotland,  by  which 
David,  the  king  of  Scotland,  obtained  his  liberty  ;  and  at  the 
expiration  of  which  term  "  the  Scotch  might  be  free  to  choose 
peace  or  war,  as  they  should  like  best."  Till  now,  whatever 
truce  had  been  proclaimed  between  the  two  nations,  it  had 
never  been  entirely  observed,  but  had  been  continually  inter- 
rupted, "  either  by  the  robberies  of  the  borderers  on  land,  or 
the  piracies  of  private  men  by  sea."  These  hostilities  were 
chiefly  on  the  part  of  the  Scotch,  who  had  most  to  gain  by 
them,  and  were  properly  considered  as  the  acts  of  moss- 
troopers and  pirates,  not  £is  national  offences.  Just  at  the 
time  when  the  two  kings  were  concluding  this  ten  years' 
truce,  with  a  sincere  desire  of  peace,  three  Scotch  pirates,  in 
vessels  of  such  force,  that  they  had  with  them  no  less  than 
300  chosen  men-at-arms,  infested  the  coasts,  and  committed 
great  depredations  upon  the  English  merchant  ships;  but 
about  the  autumnal  equinox  "  there  arose  a  high  and  strong 
wind,  which  drove  them  and  many  English  vessels  also,  as 
well  of  war  as  others,  altogether  into  Yarmouth  haven,  where 
it  pleased  God  the  Scots  were  taken  every  man,  and  brought 
to  a  just  account  for  all  their  piracies."^:  If  English  ships 
of  war  had  not  been  driven  thither  by  the  same  stress  of 
weather,  they  might  have  remained  there  in  defiance  of  any 
local  force. 

•  Barnes,  526.  f  IWd.  528.  J  Ibid.  529. 


COAST  OF  SUSSEX  RAVAGED.  269 

The  captive  king  of  France  had  agreed  upon  terms  ,oeq 
of  peace,  and  signed  and  sealed  the  agreement ;  but 
the  three  estates  and  the  dauphin  refused  their  consent,  and 
Edward  prepared  once  more  for  invading  that  unfortunate 
country.  While  the  preparations  were  going  on,  he,  and  the 
Black  Prince  his  son,  visited  most  of  the  celebrated  shrines 
in  England,  offering  up  prayers  everywhere  for  a  blessing 
upon  their  arms,  or  for  an  honourable  and  lasting  peace. 
And  one  day  when  they  were  in  Westminster  Abbey,  visit- 
ing the  monuments  of  their  predecessors  and  ancestors,  the 
king  chose  a  place  for  his  own  burial,  hard  by  the  shrine  of 
Edward  the  Confessor,  charging  the  prince  and  his  other 
children,  upon  his  blessing,  that  when  it  should  please  God 
to  call  him  out  of  this  transitory  life  to  a  better,  they  should 
lay  his  body  there.*  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  portable 
mills,  which  Pompeo  Torgona,  one  of  Spinola's  engineers,  is 
said  to  have  invented,  or  some  German  a  little  later,  and 
which  were  introduced  into  the  French  army  in  the  peninsu- 
lar w^ar  by  marshal  Marmont,  made  part  of  the  camp  equip- 
ment of  Edward  and  the  English  chiefs  at  this  time.f  They 
had  also  leathern  boats,  which  being  light  of  carriage  were 
easily  transported,  and  were  capable  each  of  carrying  three 
men.:}: 

While  Edward  was  in  the  heart  of  France,  at  the  .  „g„ 
head  of  a  most  formidable  army,  the  French  had  fitted 
out  a  fleet  of  120  sail  under  the  count  of  St.  Pol,  who,  land- 
ing at  Rye  and  at  Hastings,  "  spoiled  the  towns,  slew  the 
people,  and  did  much  harm  to  the  poor  fishers."  They  made 
a  descent  also  at  Winchelsea  on  St.  Mathias's  day,  where, 
even  in  the  church,  they  killed  all  whom  they  found,  without 
regard  to  age  or  sex,  except  such  women  as  they  reserved  for 
worse  than  death.  But  there  they  tarried  so  long  that  the 
country  was  roused ;  some  400  of  them  were  slain  before 
they  could  reach  their  ships ;  and  naval  aid  also  arrived  in 
time  to  capture  thirteen  of  their  vessels,  but  not  to  rescue  the 
women  whom  these  wretches  had  reserved  alive.     The  hor- 

*  Barnes,  564.  t  Ibid.  577.    Froissart,  Cliroti.  210. 

I  "To  fish  in  Ihem  at  llieir  pleasure,  the  wliich  did  thu  great  lords  much 
pleasure  in  the  Lent  season."  It  should  seem,  from  Frois.sart's  account, 
that  they  were  intended  for  this  rather  than  any  military  u?e.  The  army, 
indeed,  seems  to  have  been  abundantly  supplied,  though  Froissart  must 
have  followed  a  most  exngjjerated  report,  when  he  says  that  they  had  with 
them  6000  carts,  and  for  every  cart  "  at  least  four  good  horses  brought  out 
of  England."  They  had  ovens,  as  well  as  camp  kitchens  and  forges.  "  Also 
the  king  had  thirty  falconers  on  horseback,  with  hawks,  and  seventy  couple 
of  hounds,  and  as  many  greyhounds,  so  that  nearevery  day  either  he  hunted 
or  hawked  at  the  river,  as  plca.scd  him  ,  and  divers  of  the  great  lords  had 
hounds  and  hawks  as  well  as  the  king."— Chap.  210.  Holinsbed,  ii.  673. 
-       Z2 


270  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

rors  which  had  been  perpetrated  excited  great  alarm  through- 
out England,  and  yet  greater  indignation.  Orders  were 
given  that  along  the  whole  coast,  and  even  as  far  inland  as 
Bristol,  all  ships  should  be  drawn  ashore,  far  enough  to  be 
deemed  perfectly  secure,  but  not,  however,  to  be  dismantled, 
but  kept  ready  for  service.*  Great  exertions  were  made.  A 
decree  came  forth  for  arraying  all  men  between  the  ages  of 
sixteen  and  sixty,  of  whom  "  the  lustiest  and  best  armed,  and 
the  tall  archers,  were  to  be  sent  to  the  king's  admirals  at  the 
Cinque-ports,  for  the  defence  of  the  kingdom.  Spiritual 
indulgences  were  granted  to  all  who  went  to  sea  against  the 
enemy,  and  particularly  this,  that  every  one  might  choose 
his  confessor  at  his  pleasure."  The  bishops  also,  them- 
selves, the  abbots  and  priors,  rectors,  vicars,  chaplains,  and 
all  clergy  whatsoever,  were  ready  on  the  land  to  defend  the 
country,  some  as  men-of-arms,  and  others  as  archers,  by  in- 
junction of  the  church ;  and  every  beneficed  person  who 
could  not  himself  serve  was  bound  to  maintain  a  substitute  : 
for  the  loss  of  population  in  the  pestilence  was  at  this  time 
so  recent,  that  every  hand  was  w^anting  for  the  defence  of  the 
countrj'.  The  city  of  London,  with  a  spirit  worthy  of  that 
martial  age,  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  eighty  sail  to  revenge  upon 
the  coasts  of  France — though  not,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  in  the 
same  way — the  outrages  which  had  been  committed  at 
Winchelsea.  This  expedition  scoured  the  seas  from  Bou- 
logne to  Harfleur,  and  wasted  all  that  part  of  Normandy 
lying  between  the  Seine  and  the  Bresle.f 

The  French  were  now  too  wary  to  engage  with  king  Ed- 
ward in  the  field,  though  he  marched  to  Paris,  and  drawing 
up  his  army  before  that  city,  sent  heralds  to  the'  regent, 
Charles  duke  of  Normandy,  demanding  battle,  and  pledging 
himself,  if  he  should  lose  the  day,  never  more  to  assume  any 
right  or  title  to  the  crown  of  France.  That  prince  not  only 
refused  the  challenge,  but  forbade  any  man,  on  pain  of  death, 
to  issue  out  of  the  barriers  without  his  order;  "  so  well," 
says  Barnes,:}:  "  had  he,  who  was  afterwards  surnamed  the 
Wise,  learned  how  to  deal  with  this  English  Hannibal,  not 
only  by  the  example  of  the  old  Roman  Fabius,  but  of  his 
own  father  and  grandfather,  whose  frequent  and  great  losses, 
proceeding  from  their  too  forward  courage,  taught  him  now 
to  oppose  a  shield  to  this  conquering  sword,  and  not  put  his 
last  stake  to  the  fortune  of  a  battle."  Edward  had  made  a 
vow  never  to  return  to  England  till  he  should  have  brought 

*  Rymer,  iii.  part  i.  471, 472. 

t  Fabyan,  473.    Holinshed,  ii.  673.    Barnes,  57C.  |  Page  578. 


THPNDER-STORM  AT  CHARTRES.         271 

France  to  his  terms,  either  by  fair  means  or  by  force.  He 
had  retired  towards  Bretagne,  meaning  to  settle  the  affairs  of 
that  dutchy  and  refresh  his  army  there,  and  then,  at  the  latter 
end  of  the  summer,  to  return,  and  lay  formal  siege  to  the 
capital.  Necessity,  however,  compelled  the  regent  to  offer 
terms  when  he  had  marched  as  far  as  Chartres ;  and  Ed- 
ward's kinsman,  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  a  man  of  the  most 
approved  courage  and  conduct,  "  with  courteous  words  and 
sage  persuasions,"  advised  him  not  to  repel  the  reasonable 
conditions  wliich  the  French  were  now  contented  to  agree 
to,  seeing  that,  by  the  kind  of  war  wherein  he  was  now  en- 
gaged, "  his  soldiers  only  gained,  and  he  himself  consumed 
his  treasures ;  and,  further,  he  might  war  in  this  sort  all  the 
days  of  his  life  before  he  could  attain  to  his  intent,  and  per- 
haps lose  in  one  day  more  than  he  had  gained  in  twenty 
years."  This  was  the  counsel  of  a  brave  and  wise  man  ;  for 
none  better  understand  the  uncertainty  of  war  than  those  who 
have  had  most  experience  in  it,  and  are  most  capable  of  pro- 
fiting by  what  they  have  seen.  Such  fair  and  subtle  words, 
says  Froissart,  that  the  duke  of  Lancaster  said  in  good  in- 
tention, and  for  the  welfare  of  the  king  and  all  his  subjects, 
converted  the  king,  by  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who 
was  the  chief  worker  in  this  case.  For  while  the  ambassa- 
dors were  treating  for  this  peace,  and  had  no  favourable 
answers,  there  suddenly  came  on  such  a  tempest  of  thunder, 
lightning,  rain,  and  hail,  to  which  the  armj'  were  exposed, 
that  it  seemed  as  if  the  world  would  have  ended.  "  Many 
men  and  horses  were  killed  by  the  hail, — some  accounts  have 
said  thousands.  Certain  it  is,  the  hurt  was  so  great,  and  the 
storm,  in  all  its  circumstances,  so  awful,  that  the  haughtiest 
hearts  quailed,  and  the  bravest  were  stricken  with  religious 
fear.  The  king  himself  was  smitten  in  conscience,  and 
began,  perhaps,  for  the  first  time,  to  apprehend  that,  however 
rightful  he  might  deem  his  claims,  a  heavy  responsibility 
might  be  incurred  to  his  Creator  and  his  Judge,  for  the 
means  by  which  he  had  prosecuted  it.  Turning  his  face 
toward  the  cathedral  church,  which  was  dedicated  to  the 
Virgin  Mary,  he  made  a  vow  that  he  would  consent  to  the 
conditions  of  peace.  While  this  devotional  feeling  was 
fresh,  he  eased  his  mind  by  a  confession  of  his  sins ;  and 
peace  was  forthwith  concluded,  with  the  sincere  hope  and 
intention  on  his  part  that  it  might  be  lasting."* 

The  king  of  France  was  then   set  at  liberty,  after  four 
years'  captivity,  giving  hostages  for  such  part  of  his  ransom 

*  Froissart,  chap,  2]  1. 


272  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

as  was  not  immediately  paid,  and  amon£r  them  his  son 
the  dukeof  Anjou.  It  is  proof  of  no  ordinary  generosity 
in  both  these  kings,  that  their  intercourse,  under  circum- 
stances so  little  likely  to  have  produced  such  an  effect, 
should  have  led  to  a  true  friendship.  When  they  had  finally 
sworn  to  the  peace  in  the  church  of  St.  Nicolas  at  Calais, 
and  the  Pax  was  to  be  kissed,  "  by  which  ceremony 
was  signified  that  the  peace  of  Christ,  whose  image  was 
before  them,  was  from  thenceforth  to  remain  between  them, 
— the  French  king,  to  whom  it  was  first  presented,  refused 
it,  in  courtes)'^,  till  Edward  should  have  taken  it;  and  the 
king  of  England  declining  it  in  the  same  spirit,  both  at 
the  same  time  rose  from  their  knees,  and, — with  an  im- 
pulse of  sincerity  more  impressive  to  the  beholders  than 
any  ceremony  could  have  been, — instead  of  the  Pax,  they 
kissed  each  other,  with  hearty  demonstrations  of  a  mu- 
tual friendship."  Oaths  were  taken  by  the  two  eldest 
sons  of  England  and  France,  and  the  chief  lords  of  both 
realms,  that  they  would,  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  help 
to  preserve  the  j)eace,  and  that  the  injuries  on  both  sides 
should  never  more  be  borne  in  mind.  In  this  disposition 
they  parted.  And  Edward  showed  so  much  courtesy  to  the 
hostages,  that  he  allowed  them  to  go  over  to  Calais,  and 
from  thence,  "  being  near  home,"  visit  their  friends,  and 
hasten  the  payment  of  the  ransom ;  requiring  only  that  they 
should  always  return  to  that  fortress  on  the  fourth  evening. 
The  duke  of  Anjou  abused  this  confidence ;  and,  unknown 
,  o/?g  to  his  companions,  "  took  the  opportunity  to  ride  clear 
■  off,  neither  well  considering  his  father's  honour  nor 
his  own  ;  whereat  king  Jean  was  infinitely  displeased."* 

That  king  had  determined  upon  making  a  crusade ;  and 
while  preparations  for  it  were  going  on,  he  informed  his 
council  that  it  was  first  his  intention  to  cross  the  channel 
and  pay  a  visit  to  his  brother  of  England  and  the  queen  his 
sister — for  by  those  appellations  he  was  wont  always  to  call 
them  after  his  release.  "  They  of  his  council,"  says  Frois- 
sart,  "  could  not  make  him  vary  from  that  purpose,  and  yet 
they  counselled  him  sore  to  the  contrary,  divers  of  his  pre- 
lates and  barons  saying,  that  he  took  on  him  a  great  folly,  so 
to  put  himself  in  the  danger  of  the  king  of  England."  But 
he  made  answer,  "  Sirs,  let  me  believe  my  own  judgment ! 
I  have  found  in  the  king  of  England  my  brother,  and  in  the 
queen  and  their  children,  so  much  truth  and  honour,  that  I 
cannot  praise  them  too  much ;  wherefore  I  doubt  me  nothing 

*  Froissart,  Chron.  218.    Holinshed,  li.  678.    Barnes,  593.  602. 630. 


ENGLISH  LANGUAGE  ESTABLISHED  BY  LAW.         273 

of  them,  but  that  they  will  be  to  me  right  courteous  and 
true  friends  in  all  cases."  He  said  also  that  he  wished  to 
confer  with  king  Edward  about  the  crusade,  and  also  to  ex- 
cuse his  son  the  duke  of  Anjou.  This  was,  no  doubt,  the 
moving  motive ;  for  feeling  his  honour  wounded,  he  wished 
to  prove  his  own  generosity  by  showing  how  entirely  he 
confided  in  that  of  the  English  king.  During  this  .,g. 
visit  he  was  seized  with  a  mortal  illness,  and  died  at 
the  Savoy  palace  in  London,  greatly  regretted  by  Edward 
and  his  family.  The  personal  friendship  between  them  had 
served  to  counteract  that  strong  feeling  of  national  animosity 
which  the  long  course  of  hostilities  had  produced  in  both 
countries,  and  wjiich  became  stronger  as  the  differences  be- 
tween them  became  more  marked ;  for  at  this  time  it  was, 
that,  after  three  centuries,  the  language  of  the  English  peo- 
ple finally  prevailed  over  that  of  their  Norman  conquerors, 
it  being  ordained,  at  the  suit  of  the  commons,  "  that  men  of 
law  should  plead  their  causes  and  write  their  actions  and 
plaints  in  the  English  tongue,  and  not  in  the  French,  as  they 
had  been  accustomed  to  do  ever  since  the  Conquest;  and 
that  schoolmasters  should  teach  their  scholars  to  construe 
their  lessons  in  English,  and  not  in  French."*  At  the  same 
time  that  English  was  thus  established  by  law,  Chaucer,  by 
the  higher  authority  of  genius,  set  upon  it  his  sterling  stamp, 
and  breathed  into  English  poetry  a  spirit  which,  through 
all  changes  of  time  and  taste,  it  has  continued  to  preserve. 
Largely  as  our  mixed  speech  has  drawn  from  the  French, 
not  only  in  its  vocabulary,  but  in  its  idiomatic  forms,  there 
are  no  two  European  languages  that  differ  more  essentially 
in  chEuracter;  and  that  difference,  by  its  effects  upon  the 
literature  of  each,  has  materially  contributed  to  produce  the 
marked  difference  of  character  between  the  two  nations.f 


*  Holinshed,  ii.  678. 

t  In  the  month  of  June,  13C7,  Barnes  (717.),  on  the  authority  of  an  old 
manuscript  at  Cambridge,  says,  "There  appeared  in  the  Northern  Sea  a 
great  navy  of  Danes,  who  purposed  to  come  into  England,  and  overrun, 
rob,  and  slay,  as  their  ancestors  had  done  in  the  time  of  the  Saxon  kings. 
But  they  were  encountered  and  met  with  at  sea  by  a  good  fleet  of  English 
mariners,  and  other  valiant  men,  who  overthrew  and  scattered  them,  and 
made  them  return  inglorious  into  their  own  country.  But.  among  others, 
there  was  a  mighty  and  strong  ship  called  the  Denmark,  which,  being  over- 
sailed  by  the  Englishmen,  was  taken  and  sunk;  and  in  lier  was  found  (he 
high  steward  and  other  great  officers  and  lords  of  Denmark,  who.  being 
brought  into  England,  were,  by  word  ftom  the  king  and  council,  thrown 
into  prison.  Shortly  after,  there  came  certain  Danish  deputies  to  negotiate 
for  the  delivery  of  the  foresai<i  lords  of  their  country,  with  their  goods;  but 
receiving  an  answer  no  way  pleasing  unto  them,  they  returned  home  again, 
having  left  behind  them  in  their  inns,  written  on  scrolls  and  walls,  tbia 
threatening  verse : 


274  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

When  the  war  was  renewed,  France  had  a  powerful  mari- 
time ally  in  the  king  of  Castile,  Henrique  II.,  who  having 
been  defeated  by  the  Black  Prince  in  the  great  battle  of 
Najara,  nearly  on  the  same  ground  where,  in  our  own  days, 
the  not  less  signal  battle  of  Vittoria  was  gained  by  British 
valour,  had  afterwards  recovered  the  throne,  and  secured 
himself  in  its  possession  by  the  death  of  his  brother  king 
,071  Pedro.  An  embassy  was  going  at  this  time  from 
Edward  to  the  duke  of  Bretagne;  and  as  there  was 
some  likelihood  of  encountering  the  French  and  Spaniards 
at  sea,  a  considerable  fleet  was  sent  with  it,  under  the  lord 
Guy  Brian,  "an  experienced  commander  both  by  sea  and 
land,  and  one  of  the  most  illustrious  order  of  the  garter :" 
with  him  was  joined  sir  Richard  Sturry,  and  many  other 
valiant  captains,  with  a  choice  number  of  archers.  Prince 
Thomas  of  Woodstock  was  on  board,  then  about  sixteen 
years  of  age,  afterwards  constable  of  England,  and  duke  of 
Gloucester,  under  which  title  he  acted  a  turbulent  part, in 
the  history  of  England,  and  left  an  unhappy  name.  It  was 
well  for  them  that  they  went  in  force,  though  they  did  not 
fall  in  with  the  enemies  whom  they  apprehended ;  for  there 
were  disputes  pending  between  the  English  and  the  Fle- 
mings, of  that  kind  which  were  continually  arising  between 
merchant  adventurers  who  were  probably  equally  ready  on 
either  side  to  act  as  pirates  whenever  a  tempting  opportunity 
presented  itself.  A  large  Flemish  fleet,  under  Hans  Pieters- 
zoon,  had  been  atRochelle,  and  there  had  taken  in  their  lading 
of  wine :  on  their  way  homeward  they  touched  at  a  port  in 
Bretagne,  called  La  Baye,  for  which  port  the  English  were 
bound ;  and  having  information  of  this,  the  Flemings  waited 
for  them  there  with  the  determination  of  giving  them  battle — 
an  opportunity  for  which  they  had  long  desired.*    The  Eng- 

Yet  shall  Danes 
Bring  you  wanes  ;* 

Which  rhymes  being  seen  by  an  English  poet,  he  immediately  wrote  un- 
derneath them : 

Here  shall  Danes 
P'ettt  their  banes. 

1  have  not  noticed  this  relation  in  the  text,  because  it  is  as  improbable 
in  all  its  circumstances  as  it  is  unsupported  by  any  other  authority. 

*  "  lis  n'avoient  d(';sir6  toute  la  saison  autre  chose,  fors  qu'ils  peussent 
Irouver  les  Anglois.  Pour  lors  n'estoient  point  amis  les  Anglois  et  les 
Flamans:  ains  s'estoient  en  celle  saison  hariez  et  envahis  sur  mer,  et  tant 
que  les  Flamans  y  avoient  perdu,  dont  il  leur  d6plaisoit." — Froissart, 
Chron.  298. 


*  Despair  or  loss,  ab  A.  S.  wanian,  to  wane  or  diminish, 
t  Fetch. 


PEACE  WITH  THE  FLEMISH  TOWNS.  275 

lish  knew  not  at  first  who  they  were ;  but  seeing  tliat  a  hos- 
tile greeting  was  intended  for  them,  they  made  ready  for  re- 
ceiving it  accordingly.  "  So  there  began  a  fierce  and  terrible 
medley."  The  Flemings  were  more  in  number,  and  better 
provided  for  action,  in  so  far  that  they  were  waiting  for  it 
The  English  had  the  advantage  of  having  been  fitted  out 
wholly  for  purposes  of  war ;  but  for  this  also  the  Flemings 
were  well  furnished  with  men.  It  was  one  of  those  actions 
frequent  in  that  age,  both  by  land  and  by  sea,  in  which, 
giving  full  way  to  mutual  animosity,  both  sides  disregarded 
all  resources  of  art  and  skill,  and  trusted  the  decision  to 
mere  strength  of  heart  and  hand.  The  ships  were  fastened 
to  each  other  with  grappling-irons ;  and  after  a  severe  battle 
of  three  hours,  every  Flemish  ship,  twenty-five  in  number, 
was  captured,  after  a  great  carnage  on  both  sides.*  The 
king  of  England  was  wonderfully  pleased  at  this  unexpect- 
ed success ;  and  so  much  the  more,  because  the  Flemings  had 
been  the  aggressors,  and  gave  the  first  occasion,  and  yet 
were  so  entirely  defeated.  He  sent  their  admiral  to  the 
Tower,  and  ordered  out  a  fleet  "  to  make  sharp  war  upon  all 
the  merchants  of  Flanders,  and  to  block  up  their  ports ; 
being,"  says  his  historian,  "  resolved  by  any  means  to  pull 
down  the  pride  of  those  people  who  had  thus  presumed  to 
begin  a  war  against  him."  This  did  not  continue  long. 
The  men  of  Ghent,  Bruges,  and  Ypres  (which,  forlorn  as 
its  appearance  now  is,  was  then  one  of  the  most  industrious 
and  prosperous  cities  in  Europe)  held  a  council,  and  con- 
cluded it  was  most  for  their  interest  to  be  at  peace  with  Eng- 
land, and  not  any  longer  to  have  the  displeasure  of  king 
Edward,  for  the  sake  of  their  lord  the  earl  of  Flanders,  who 
was  now  again  wholly  for  the  French."  All  the  great 
towns  of  Flanders  agreed  to  this,  and  sent  deputies  into 
F]ngland  to  treat  for  peace;  peace  was  accordingly  con- 
cluded, and  the  prisoners  released,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all 
parties  except  the  earl,  whose  subjects  had  thus  thought  pro- 
per to  negotiate  for  themselves. | 

♦  "  The  English,"  says  Barnes,  "  were  more  than  usually  severe  when 
they  had  the  full  mastery,  because  they  (the  Flemings)  had  been  so  bold  as 
to  begin  the  assault."  I  hope  that  the  authority  which  he  follows  has  been 
mistaken  in  this— as  it  must  be,  when  it  states  the  loss  of  the  Flemings  at 
above  4000  slain,  and  a!>  many  taken,  which  would  be  giving  a  complement 
of  320  men  to  each  ship. 

t  Froissart,  Chron.298.  Barnes,  821.  822.  Sueyro,  i.  551,  552.  Sueyro's 
words  are,  "Se  alleraron  grandemente  las  Ciudades  de  Flandes,  que  ante- 
poniendo  su  conservacion  y  comercio  al  servicio  del  conde  y  rey  de  Francia 
erabiaron  deputados  a  Eduardo,  confirmando  la  paz  con  ciertas  condiciones 
y  restituyendoles  el  Ingles  Ids  presos,  con  que  se  bolvieron  alegres  a  sua 
casas." 


276  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

This  was  the  last  of  Edward's  naval  victories.  His  day 
had  been  long  and  glorious  ;  but  his  evening  was  overcast. 
^'  It  seems,"  says  Barnes,  who,  in  minutely  recording  the 
events  of  his  life,  had  contracted  a  personal  regard  for  the 
hero  of  his  tale — a  natural  and  el-evaled  feeling,  whereby  we 
are  enabled,  as  it  were,  to  form  friendships  with  the  dead — 
"  it  seems  that  God  Almighty  was  willing  to  prepare  this 
glorious  monarch  by  some  sensible  affliction  for  his  final  dis- 
solution ;  and  that  he  might,  by  observing  his  own  weak- 
ness, fall  to  a  due  consideration  of  God's  power,  and  learn  to 
despise  the  false  grandeur  and  painted  glories  of  the  world. 
He  was  pleased  from  this  time  to  blast  both  his  maturest 
counsels  and  his  strongest  preparations  ;  whereby,  as  a  father 
doth  his  child,  He  weaned  him  from  the  delights  and  allure- 
ments of  this  life,  and  directed  him  to  seek  after  a  better. 
From  henceforward  we  shall  see  his  great  web  of  victories 
continually  to  unravel,  and  the  strong  spring  of  his  success 
to  run  backward  with  much  more  speed  than  ever  it  was 
wound  up." 

,  „^2  The  people  of  Gascony  and  Poictou  had  solicited 
'  '  Edward  both  by  their  letters  and  by  sir  Guichard  Dan- 
gle, that  if  he  could  not  spare  one  of  the  princes  his  sons, 
yet  at  least  he  would  send  the  earl  of  Pembroke,  whom,  next 
to  the  princes,  they  loved  and  honoured  most,  for  the  expe- 
rience they  had  had  of  his  courage  and  conduct.  To  this  the 
king  consented ;  and  the  earl,  whose  first  wife  had  been  a 
daughter  of  the  king's,  was  appointed  accordingly  to  the  com- 
mand in  Aquitaine.  Edward  consulted  about  the  expedition 
chiefly  with  sir  Guischard,  as  being  a  Poictevin  lord,  in 
whose  judgment  and  fidelity  he  had  entire  confidence  ;  nor 
was  that  confidence  misplaced,  though  Guischard  committed 
a  fatal  error  in  advising  the  king  not  to  send  a  great  force 
from  England,  because  he  might  rely  upon  the  loyalty  of 
his  subjects  beyond  sea.  "  When  once  my  lord  of  Pem- 
broke appears,"  says  he,  "  he  will  find  a  good  army  in  the 
field  to  join  him.  We  shall  make  up  400  or  500  spears  at 
least :  with  their  several  retinues,  all  ready  to  live  and  die 
for  your  service,  so  they  may  have  their  wages  duly  paid 
them." — "  Sir  Guischard,  sir  Guischard !"  replied  the  king, 

"Thus  lightly,"  says  Barnes,  "can  vulgar  minds  be  moved  to  begin  a 
war ;  and  when  they  are  beaten,  as  readily  sue  for  peace."  Joshua  lived  at 
a  time  when  it  was  the  policy  of  a  profligate  administration  to  encourage 
a  most  unjust  spirit  of  hostility  against  the  Dutch,  and  the  effect  upon  his 
honest  mind  is  very  evident  in  his  relation  of  this  battle.  One  of  the 
political  poems  of  those  days  ends  with  this  pious  imprecation  against  the 
Dutch  :— 

"  May  men  undam  you,  and  God  d— n  you  all !" 


ACTION  WITH  THE  CASTILIAN  FLEET.  277 

**  take  you  no  care  for  gold  and  silver  to  maintain  the  war, 
when  you  are  once  come  thither ;  for,  I  thank  God,  I  have 
enough ;  and  I  am  well  content  to  employ  it  in  that  mer- 
chandise, seeing  that  it  toucheth  me  and  my  realm."  There 
went  with  the  earl  of  Pembroke  the  lords  Grandison  and 
Touchet,  sir  Thomas  of  St.  Albans,  sir  John  Lawton,  sir  Si- 
mon Whitaker,  sir  John  Curzon,  sir  Robert  Beaufort,  and  sir 
John  Grimstone,  all  English  knights,  besides  the  Poictevins, 
'ord  Guischard  Dangle,  the  lord  of  Penan,  the  lord  of  Mor- 
tagne,  sir  Aymery  de  Tarse,  and  others.  They  repaired  to 
Southampton,  where  they  tarried  fifteen  days,  in  expectance 
of  a  wind :  "  then  had  they  wind  at  will,  and  so  entered  into 
their  ships,  and  departed  from  the  haven  in  the  name  of  God 
and  St.  George  ;" — "but  most  certainly,"  says  Barnes,  "  in 
an  unlucky  hour  !" 

For  king  Charles  of  France,  "  who  knew  the  most  part 
of  all  the  council  in  England,"  was  well  informed  now  as 
to  what  force  was  sent,  and  whither  it  was  bound ;  and  as 
he  had  sent  land  forces  to  assist  the  king  of  Castile,  he  ob- 
tained from  that  ally  a  strong  navy,  consisting  of  forty  great 
ships  and  thirteen  barks,  well  trimmed,  and  furnished  with 
engines  and  with  men.  Ambrosio  Boccanegra  was  admiral 
of  this  fleet,  a  Genoese  in  the  Castilian  service ;  and  he  had 
with  him  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  Ruydiaz  de  Rojas,  and  another 
chief  whom  Froissart  calls  Ferrant  de  Pyon.*  These  lay  at 
anchor  about  Rochelle  and  the  isle  of  Rhe,  knowing  that  the 
English  and  Poictevians  intended  here  to  land;  and  when 
the  earl  of  Pembroke  arrived  oflf  the  port,  and  perceived  the 
enemy  awaiting  him,  he  saw  that  it  was  too  late  to  avoid 
them,  and  that  ne  must  needs  give  them  battle,  though  "  the 
match  was  nothing  equal,  neitlier  in  numbers  of  men,  nor 
bulk,  nor  strength  of  ships."  Howbeit  they  comforted 
themselves  and  armed,  and  put  themselves  in  good  order, 
their  archers  before  them,  ready  to  fight.  According  to  Fro- 
issart, who  derived  his  account  of  this  action  from  persons 
who  were  engaged  in  it,  the  Spaniards  had  cannon  in  their 
ships :  but  it  is  remarkable,  that  though  he  expressly  men- 
tions them,  he  says  nothing  of  the  effect  that  they  pro- 
duced ;  and  it  appears  from  his  relation  that  they  trusted  to 
the  old  artillery, — great  stones,  bars  of  iron,  and  balls  of 
lead.     *'  Anon,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  they  began  to  ap- 


♦  This  name  I  have  not  attempted  to  rectify.  The  two  former  were  easily 
restored,  being  familiar  to  any  person  who  is  acquainted  with  Spanish 
history  during  the  middle  ages;  the  third,  which  Barnes  supposes  to  be 
Rodrigo  de  Roses,  I  And  in  Pedro  Lopez  de  Ayala's  Chronica  del  Rey  Don 
Henrique  H. 

Vol.  I.  2  A 


278  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

proach,  making  great  noise :  the  great  ships  of  Spain  took 
the  wind,  to  fetch  their  turn  on  the  English  ships,  whom 
they  but  little  feared,  and  so  came  with  a  full  sail  on  them ; 
so  thus  at  the  beginning  there  was  great  cry  and  noise  of 
the  one  and  other,  and  the  Englishmen  bare  themselves  right 
well ;  and  the  earl  of  Pembroke  knighted  several  of  his 
young  esquires  for  honour,  and  reminded  his  people  that 
these  were  Spaniards,  over  whom  they  had  triumphed  so 
signally  at  Najara. — ^There  was  a  great  batfle  and  a  hard :  the 
Englishmen  had  enough  to  do;  and,  as  I  have  heard  report- 
ed," says  Froissart,  "by  them  that  were  there, the  English- 
men and  Poictevins  desired  greatly  to  acquire  praise  in  arms, 
and  there  were  never  men  that  did  more  valiantly  ;  for  they 
were  but  few  people  in  regard  to  the  Spaniards,  and  also  far 
less  number  of  ships,  and  less  in  size ;  therefore  it  might 
well  be  marvelled  how  they  endured  so  long:  but  the  noble 
knighthood  that  was  in  them  recomforted  them,  and  held 
them  in  their  strength  ;  and  if  they  had  been  like  in  ships, 
the  Spaniards  had  taken  but  little  advantage  of  them.  They 
held  themselves  so  close  together,  that  none  durst  abide  their 
strokes,  unless  they  were  well  armed  and  pavaised  ;  but  the 
casting  down  of  blocks  of  lead,  great  stones,  and  bars  of 
iron,  hurt  and  troubled  them  marvellously  sore,  and  wounded 
divers  knights  and  squires." 

This  action  was  in  sight  of  Rochelle,  in  the  mouth  of  the 
channel  leading  to  that  city.  The  inhabitants  were  at  that 
time  subjects  of  the  king  of  England;  but  they  were  disaf- 
fected, and  this  the  Spaniards  knew.  No  effort,  therefore, 
was  made  to  assist  his  fleet,  and  the  action  continued  till 
night,  when  the  fleets  separated  and  cast  anchor,  the  English 
having  lost  two  barges,  laden  with  provisions,  all  the  men 
on  board  which  were  put  to  death.  Unequal  as  the  contest 
was,  the  weaker  party  made  no  attempt  to  escape  a  renewal 
of  it,  either  because  they  hoped  for  succour  from  the  city,  or 
because  they  were  too  high-minded  to  fly  from  any  danger 
however  great.  Jehan  de  Hardanne,  who  was  seneschal  of 
Rochelle,  called  upon  the  mayor,  Jehan  Chanderon,  and  the 
chief  burgesses,  to  muster  the  strength  of  the  people,  and  in 
such  vessels  as  were  there  to  go  and  aid  their  countrymen 
and  allies,  who  all  the  day  had  so  valiantly  fought  with 
their  enemies.  But  they,  "who  had  no- mind  to  any  such 
matter,  replied,  that  they  had  enough  to  do  to  keep  the 
town ;  that  they  were  not  men  for  the  sea,  and  could  there- 
fore do  no  service  against  the  Spaniards  upon  the  water ;  but 
that  if  the  battle  were  on  the  land,  they  would  then  gladly 
bear  a  part  in  it."     When  no  representations  of  the  senes- 


DEFEAT  OF  THE  ENGLISH.  279 

chal  coald  prevail  over  this  disposition,  he  and  the  seigneurs 
de  Tannaybouton,  Messire  Jaques  de  Surgeres,  and  IVlessire 
Maubrun  de  Linierea  placed  a  sufficient  garrison  in  the  cas- 
tle, armed  themselves,  and,  with  such  men  as  would  accom- 
Eany  them  (an  inconsiderable  number),  went  on  board  four 
arks,  and  at  daybreak,  when  the  tide  served,  went  out  and 
joined  the  earl  of  Pembroke.  He  thanked  thern  heartily  for 
their  good  will ;  and  when  they  told  him  how  the  Rochellers 
had  refused  to  cdtne  to  his  assistance,  he  answered  and  said, 
"  Well,  then,  we  must  abide  the  grace  of  God  and  the  event 
of  fortune ;  and  I  trust  we  shall  find  a  time  to  make  these 
men  of  Rochelle  rue  their  ill  dealing." 

Early  in  the  morning,  when  the  flood  began,  the  Spaniards 
weighed  anchor,  and  with  sound  of  trumpet  set  themselves 
in  order,  as  they  had  done  the  day  before,  and  took  advan- 
tage of  the  wind  to  close  in  the  English.  They  and  the 
Poictevins  prepared  to  receive  them,  and  drew  together,  and 
set  their  archers  before  them.  The  enemy,  whose  object  it 
was  to  engage  as  soon  as  possible  in  close  combat,  where  the 
number  and  height  of  their  ships  gave  them  a  sure  advantage, 
succeeded  in  grappling  with  the  English  vessels:  the  action, 
nevertheless,  continued  till  three  in  the  afternoon.  Already 
sir  Aymery  de  Tarse  and  sir  John  Lawton  had  fallen  by  the 
earl's  side.  The  earl's  ship  was  now  grappled  by  four  Spa- 
nish ships ;  Cabeza  de  Vaca  being  in  one,  and  Ferrant  de 
Pyon  in  anotlier  of  them.  On  all  sides  it  was  boarded ;  lord 
Tonchet,  sir  Ninion  Whittaker,  and  the  seigneur  Jehan  de 
Mortagne  were  killed,  the  earl  himself  was  made  prisoner, 
and  with  him  sir  Guischard,  sir  Robert  Beaufort,  sir  John 
Curzon,  and  sir  John  Grimstone ;  and  all  on  board  either 
suffered  the  same  fate  or  worse.  Other  ships  still  main- 
tained the  struggle  ;  but  at  last  all  were  overmastered,  so 
that  none  escap^  being  either  taken  or  slain.  But  when 
the  Spaniards  had  taken  the  masters,  .they  slew  no  more 
varlets ;  for  the  masters  prayed  for  their  people,  and  en- 
treated that  they  would  spare  them,  saying,  they  would  pay 
ransom  for  all.  The  ship  which  had  the  money  on  board 
for  payment  of  the  soldiers,  to  the  amount  of  20,000/.,  was 
sunk  ;  and  yet  great  treasure  is  said  to  have  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  conquerors.  "  But  this  was  nothing  com- 
parable to  the  loss  which  England  sustained  in  the  death  and 
capture  of  so  many  distinguished  persons  ;  and  yet  the  ill 
consequences  of  this .  day  were  far  greater  than  the  loss 
itself.  King  Edward  received  here  the  greatest  blow  that 
ever  he  had  felt;  for  this  discomfiture  drew  after  it  the 
loss  of  all  that  he  had  ever  possessed  in  France,  either  by 


280  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

inheritance  or  conquest,  Bayonne,  Bourdeaux,  and  Calais 
only  excepted."* 

"  All  that  day,"  says  Froissart,  "  which  was  the  vigil  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  all  that  night,  and  the  next  day 
till  it  was  noon,  the  Spanieirds  lay  at  zinchor  before  Rochelle, 
triumphing  and  making  great  joy.  And  when  noon  was 
past,  and  the  tide  came  on,  they  weighed  anchor  and  spread 
their  sails,  and  so  departed  with  a  merry  noise  of  trumpets 
and  clarions ;  their  masts  and  fore  decks  being  adorned  with 
long  streamers,  and  rich  pennons,  and  standards,  emblazoned 
with  the  arms  of  Castile,  which  made  a  glorious  show  as 
they  waved  about  in  the  wind ;  and  it  was  beautiful  to  behold 
them."f  After  a  passage  which  was  protracted  by  contrary 
winds,  they  arrived  at  Santander;  and  there  they  brought 
their  prisoners  into  the  castle,  bound  in  chains,  after  the 
Spanish  manner,  says  Barnes,  of  treating  their  captives, 
which  was  far  from  that  courteous  and  more  humane  way  of 
intercourse  held  between  the  French,  English,  and  Scotch 
of  those  days.  They  received,  however,  very  different  treat- 
ment from  the  king,  who,  when  they  were  brought  to  Burgos, 
sent  his  eldest  son,  the  infante  Don  Juan,  to  meet  them,  and 
entertained  them  honourably,  though  he  soon  placed  them 
in  safe  custody, — zs  one  who  was  not  conscious  enough  of 
honour  in  himself  to  repose  any  trust  in  that  of  others.  Pem- 
broke was  confined  in  the  castle  of  Curiel  awhile,  till  he 
and  Guischard,  the  seigneur  de  Penan,  and  some  others, 
were  delivered  over  to  Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  that  their  ran- 
som might  be  accounted  in  payment  of  the  sum  due  to  him 
for  his  services, — the  price  of  Henrique's  kingdom,  and  of 
his  brother  Pedro's  blood.  Many  of  the  other  chiefs  died  in 
captivity ;  there  were  among  them,  according  to  the  Spanish 
account,  seventy  knights  who  wore  gilt  spurs.if: 

From  this  time  one  ill  success  followed  another,  the  king 
of  France  following  up  his  advantages  wisely  and  vigor- 
ously, and  the  constable  Bertrand  du  Guesclin  being  the 
greatest  commander  whom  France  produced  during  the 
middle  ages.  In  the  course  of  the  same  year,  du  Guesclin 
laid  siege  to  Thouars,  into  which  place  most  of  the  lords  who 
still  remained  true  to  England  had  retired.     The  siege  was 

*  Froissart,  Chron.  303.  4.    Barnes,  829.  832. 

t  "  Etestoit  moult  grant  beauts  de  les  veoir,"  says  Froissart,  which  lord 
Berners  translates, — "  So  that  it  was  great  pleasure  to  behold  them ;"  for- 
getting, as  perhaps  Froissart  himself  did,  that  the  author  is  relating  the 
defeature  of  bis  friends. 

X  Pedro  Lopez  de  Ayala,  Cronica  del  Key  Don  Enrique  U.  an.  vi.  cap.  19. 
Froissart,  c.  304.    Barnes,  834. 


EDWARD  AGAIN  EMBARKS  FOR  FRANCE.  281 

closely  pressed,  great  engines,  which  played  against  the 
town  night  and  day,  having  been  brought  thither  irom  Pole- 
tiers  and  Rochelle ;  till  at  length  the  besieged  proposed  a 
truce  for  themselves  and  their  land  till  the  ensuing  Michael- 
mas ;  they  in  the  mean  time  to  send  to  their  lord  the  king  of 
England,  and  certify  him  of  their  condition ;  and  if  they 
were  not  by  that  time  succoured,  either  by  him  or  by  one  of 
his  sons  in  person,  they  engaged  then  to  yield  themselves  to 
the  obedience  of  the  French  king.  The  proposal  was  ac- 
cepted, and  the  French  lords  departed  from  before  Thouars 
in  consequence ;  for  each  party  seems  to  have  acted  in  this 
case  with  a  just  reliance  upon  the  good  faith  of  the  other. 
When  the  messengers  arrived  in  England,  and  Edward  un- 
derstood from  their  report  "  with  how  little  war  he  had  lost 
the  places  and  countries  that  had  cost  him  so  much  to  win," 
he  observed,  that  he  had  never  known  a  king  less  addicted  to 
arms  than  king  Charles  V. ;  who,  nevertheless,  had  given 
him  more  trouble  than  both  his  warlike  predecessors.  And 
he  declared,  that  he  would  cross  the  seas  in  such  strength  as 
to  be  able  to  give  battle  to  the  whole  power  of  France ;  nor 
would  he  ever  return  to  England  till  he  had  recovered  all  that 
he  had  lost,  or,  with  the  resid.  e,  lost  himself  in  the  endeavour. 
This  resolution  was  such  as  might  have  been  expected  from 
Edward,  and  such  as  became  him.  Ambition  had  ceased  to 
be  his  ruling  passion  :  since  he  made  peace  at  Chartres  he 
seems  to  have  been  sincerely  desirous  of  maintaining  it,  and  to 
have  had  no  other  motive  for  war  than  the  just  one  of  pre- 
serving what  that  peace  was  to  have  secured  to  him,  and  of 
protecting  his  adherents. 

A  summons  was  sent  through  the  realm,  requiring  all  men 
of  a  certain  age  and  degree  to  repair  in  arms  to  Sandwich 
and  the  adjacent  ports  by  an  appointed  day,  there  to  take  the 
seas  with  the  king  and  his  sons,  the  Black  Prince,  John  of 
Gaunt,  and  the  earl  of  Cambridge.  Four  hundred  great 
ships,  besides  other  vessels,  were  collected  for  their  passa^^e. 
Parliament  was  assembled  ;  and,  to  prevent,  as  far  as  such 
•precautions  can  prevent  such  evils,  any  dispute  concerning 
the  succession,  it  was  there  solemnly  declared,  that  in  case 
the  king  or  the  prince  should  die  in  this  expedition,  the 
prince's  only  living  son,  Richard  of  Bourdeaux,  was  to  suc- 
ceed, according  to  right,  unto  the  crown  of  England  :  he  was 
also  constituted  custos  regni  during  their  absence.  Prayers 
were  ordered  in  all  churches  for  the  good  success  of  the 
voyage ;  and  on  Monday  the  30th  of  August,  about  nine  in 
the  morning,  Edward  went  on  board  the  Grace  de  Dieu  at 
Sandwich,  and  sailed  with  as  g^eat  a  fleet  "  as  ever  any 
2  a2 


283  NAVAl  HISTOKY  OF  ENGLAND. 

king  before  had  carried  forth  of  England."  Three  thousand 
men-at-arms  were  embarked,  and  10,000  archers,  besides 
other  foot  soldiers.  The  expenses  of  the  expedition  are  said 
to  have  exceeded  900,000  marks.  The  loyal  Gascons  were 
prepared  to  join  him  with  their  utmost  forces ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  French  king  assembled  all  his  might,  as  if, 
in  the  belief  that  fortune  had  set  in  his  favour,  he  had  de- 
termined upon  meeting  Edward  before  Thouars,  and  there 
giving  him  battle.  But  Edward  had  never  been  elated  by 
prosperity,  and  his  humiliation  was  not  to  be  inflicted  by  the 
power  of  man.  The  elements  in  their  courses  fought  against 
him.  In  vain  did  he  beat  about,  coasting  Normandy  and 
Bretagne,  with  the  intent  of  landing  about  Rochelle  :  "  that 
strange  fortune,"  says  Barnes,  "who  before  was  always 
ready  to  waft  this  prince  over,  but  difficult  to  convey  him 
back,  was  now  quite  otherwise  disposed,  and  became  an  emi- 
nent hinderer  of  his  designs ;  so  that  for  this  success  France 
was  beholden  to  the  most  inconstant  of  the  elements,  or 
rather  to  the  benign  providence  of  Him  who  governs  both 
the  winds  and  the  seas.  For  days  and  weeks  the  fleet  con- 
tended against  contrary  winds,  even  till  the  day  appointed 
for  the  relief  or  the  surrender  of  Thouars  came.  When  it 
thus  became  impossible  for  him  to  arrive  in  time,  he  turned 
homeward,  yielding  to  necessity,  and  broke  up  his  arma- 
ment.*" 

I  q~o  There  was  a  report  in  the  following  year  that  a  cer- 
'  tain  sir  Yvan  of  Wales,  who  was  in  the  French  king's 
service,  and  who  sometime  before  had  made  a  successful 
descent  upon  the  isle  of  Guernsey,  was  about  to  infest  the 
English  coast  with  a  powerful  squadron,  and  to  burn  and 
lay  waste  the  country.  The  earl  of  Salisbury,  therefore, 
William  Montagu,  was  appointed  to  guard  the  English  seas, 
being  at  that  time  retained  by  indenture  to  serve  the  king 
with  300  men-at-arms,  of  whom  twenty  besides  himself 
were  to  be  knights,  270  esquires,  and  300  archers.  The  fleet 
consisted  of  forty  great  ships,  besides  smaller  ones.  With 
these  he  sailed  from  the  coast  of  Cornwall  directly  for  St.* 
Maloes ;  and  finding  in  the  haven  seven  large  Spanish  car- 
racks,  he  burnt  them  all.|  Probably  the  strength  of  the 
intended  expedition  consisted  in  these  carracks,  for  it  was 
not  heard  of  afterwards.:}: 


*  Froissart,  Cbron.  311.    Barnes,  844,  845.  f  Barnes,  852. 

X  Ayala,  however,  says  that  king  Henrique  II.,  sent  a  great  fleet  of  galleys 
and  ships  to  aid  the  king  of  France  in  1374,  don  Ferrand  Sanchez  de  Trovar 
being  the  admiral ;  that  they  did  much  damage  in  the  Isle  of  Wight ;  and 


Edward's  latter  days.  283 

The  remainder  of  Edward's  days  were  few  and  evil.  He 
had,  not  lon^  before,  lost  bis  excellent  queen  Philippa,  after 
a  happy  union  of  forty  years.  The  Black  Prince,  who 
should  have  been  his  worthy  successor,  was  summoned  be- 
fore him  to  his  account,  being  consumed  in  mid  age  by  a 
slow  and  wasting  malady.  One  after  another,  his  bravest 
captains  had  disappeared,  cut  off  by  pestilence,  or  by  the 
chances  of  war,  or  m  the  course  of  nature.  He  had  lost  the 
greater  part  of  his  continental  possessions — not  in  conse- 
quence of  any  signal  defeat,  nor  through  any  defect  of  policy 
on  his  part,  or  superiority  of  it  in  the  French  councils ;  but 
by  the  course  of  fortune,  without  any  feiilure  of  strength,  or 
want  of  vigour,  or  loss  of  reputation.  Never  was  there  a 
king  in  whose  history  the  will  of  Providence  may  seem  to 
have  been  more  clearly  manifested :  so  greatly  had  his  vic- 
tories exceeded  all  bounds  of  reasonable  hope,  so  much  had 
his  reverses  surpassed  all  reasonable  apprehension.  Well 
might  Edward  have  exclaimed  with  the  Preacher,  "  that  all 
is  vanity,"  when  he  had  survived  the  wife  of  his  bosom,  the 
son  of  his  youth  and  of  his  proudest  and  dearest  hopes,  his 
prosperity,  his  popularity,  the  respect  of  his  chiefs  and  the 
love  of  his  people  ;  for,  after  the  loss  of  his  son,  his  moral 
and  intellectual  strength  gave  way,  and  he  fell  under  subjec- 
tion to  an  artful  and  rapacious  woman.  In  this,  however, 
posterity  has  been  just,  that  it  has  judged  of  him,  not  by  the 
failure  of  his  fortunes  and  the  weakness  of  his  latter  days, 
but  by  the  general  tenour  and  the  one  great  and  abiding  con- 
sequence of  his  long  and  glorious  rei^n.  The  name  of  Ed- 
ward HI.,  as  it  must  always  be  illustrious  in  history,  so  will 
it  ever  be  dear  to  all  true-hearted  Englishmen ;  for  by  him 
was  that  superiority  of  British  courage,  by  sea  and  by  land, 
asserted  and  proved  at  Sluys  and  at  Cressy,  which,  in  our 
own  time,  has  been  confirmed  at  Trafalgar  and  at  Waterloo. 

that  a  great  French  fleet  joined  it  under  M.  Jean  de  Vienne,and  committed 

freat  ravages  upon  the  coast  of  England.    Cronica  del  Rey  Don  Enrique 
I.     Ano  9.  cap.  9. 

The  old  printed  copies  and  some  MSS.  of  this  chronicle,  says  the  Isle  of 
Due;  but,  in  an  abridgment,  the  modern  editor,  don  Eugenic  de  Llaguno 
Amerola,  flnds  it  written  Duyc;  which,  he  says,  "£s  mas  conforme  al 
nonibre  vulgar  Ingles  Wight,  de  donde  se  corrumpio  en  nuestra  lingua 
Duyc."  After  this  we  need  not  wonder  at  finding  names  so  corrupted  that 
no  conjecture  can  set  them  right. 

I  perceive,  however,  a  more  material  error  here  :  Ayala  has  here  related 
what  did  not  take  place  tUI  three  years  afterwards. 


284  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.    VI. 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  EDWARD  III.  TO  THE  ACCESSION  OF 
HENRY  IV. 

A.  D.  1377—1399. 

It  was  in  honour  either  of  the  battle  of  Sluys,  or  the 
victory  which  he  had  obtained  over  the  Spanish  fleet  off 
Winchelsea,  that  Edward  III.  caused  the  noble  to  be  struck, 
then  the  largest  and  handsomest  of  all  gold  coins,  whereon 
he  was  represented,  armed  and  crowned,  in  a  ship,  and  hold- 
ing a  drawn  sword.  When,  in  the  peace  with  king  Jean,  he 
renounced  his  title  to  Normandy,  the  islands  dependent  there- 
upon were  expressly  reserved,  that  he  might  preserve  his 
jurisdiction  at  sea  entire,*  both  he  and  his  parliament,  on 
every  occasion,  asserting  the  hereditary  right  of  the  kings  of 
England  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  seas. 

That  maritime  power  was  necessary  for  the  strength  and 
security  of  England,  was  well  understood  by  the  English 
statesmen  in  that  age ;  a^d  that  this  power  could  not  be  sup- 
ported but  by  foreign  trade :  and  if  their  measures  for  pro- 
moting both  were  sometimes  injudicious,  and  produced  effects 
contrary  to  what  were  designed,  the  errors  of  their  inexpe- 
rience may  appear  venial  indeed,  when  we  call  to  mind  the 
sins  of  modern  legislation.  One  of  their  great  objects  was  to 
encourage  foreign  merchants ;  thinking,  as  it  appears,  that 
foreign  trade  might  be  carried  on  with  more  discretion  and 
less  risk  through  their  hands.  With  this  view,  the  exclu- 
sive privilege  of  importing  winesf  from  Gascony  was  given 
them,  and  of  exporting  wool  ;:j:  and  laws  were  passed  to  pro- 
tect them  from  any  exactions  in  the  English  ports,  where 
certain  persons  pretended  a  right  of  pre-emption.§  They 
were  to  be  exempted  also  from  that  most  vexatious  of  all  griev- 
ances, the  delay  of  justice;  and  if  any  wrong  were  done 
them,  the  justices  were  charged  to  do  them  speedy  right, 
"  according  to  the  law-merchant,  from  day  to  day  and  hour 
to  hour,  without  driving  them  to  sue  at  common  law."|| 
And  forasmuch  as  murders  and  robberies  upon  merchants  and 
others,  passing  through  the  realm  with  their  goods,  had  be- 
come more  frequent,  an  old  statute  was  revived, "  to  the  intent 
that  merchant-aliens  might  have  the  greater  will  and  cour- 
age" to  come  into  this  kingdom  :  by  that  statute  the  hun- 


♦  Campbell,  i.  148.  f  34  Edward  III.  1 9  Edward  III. 

§  9  Edward  III.  jj  27  Edward  III.  slat.  2,  c.  19. 


FIRST  NAVIGATION  ACT.  285 

dreds  were  made  answerable  for  any  felonies  and  robberies 
committed  within  their  bounds  ;  and  no  longer  space  than 
forty  days  was  allowed  them,  in  which  time  they  were  to 
agree  for  the  robbery  or  offence,  or  produce  the  bodies  of  the 
offenders.*  The  exclusive  privileges  granted  to  foreign  mer- 
chants, with  a  view  to  the  promotion  of  commerce,  proved 
injurious  to  the  shipping  of  the  country,  inasmuch  as  they 
carried  on  their  trade  in  foreign  bottoms.  It  was  greatly  in- 
jured also  by  the  inconvenient  and  oppressive  manner  in 
which,  upon  any  emergency,  a  naval  force  was  raised  :  at 
such  time  all  native  ships  in  all  the  ports  were  embargoed  for 
the  public  service,  and  were  frequently  detained  for  two  or 
three  months,  or  longer,  without  any  indemnification  for  the 
owners,  or  pay  for  the  sailors.f  From  this  grievance,  which 
was  often  complained  of  by  the  commons,  foreigners  were 
exempted ;  and,  owing  to  this  cause,  and  the  great  use  of 
foreign  bottoms,  though  commerce  flourished,  and  the  balance 
of  trade  was  greatly  in  favour  of  this  country,:^  the  shipping 
decayed ;  and  in  the  latter  years  of  Edward's  reign,  no  secu- 
rity was  felt  either  by  sea  or  land§  for  want  of  a  sufl[icient 
naval  force. 

The  first  of  these  causes  was  an  evil  which,  though  the 
government  could  not  but  understand,  it  was  unable  to  remdve. 
To  have  supported  an  adequate  navy  was  beyond  its  ordinary 
means :  the  time  was  come  when  imposts  could  no  longer 
be  levied  by  the  king's  authority  without  the  concurrence  of 
parliament ;  and  the  commons  were  more  ready  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duty  to  present  the  grievance,  than  to  grant 
the  supplies  by  which  alone  it  could  be  removed ;  but  which, 
by  taking  the  burden  from  the  particular  class  that  it  ag- 
grieved, and  making  it  general,  as  it  ought  to  have  been, 
would  have  produced  more  general,  and  therefore  louder, 
complaints.  The  impolicy  ofencouraging  foreign  shipping, 
to  the  injury  of  our  own,  admitted  of  an  easy  re-  .„o] 
medy ;  and  early  in  the  ensuing  reign,  it  was  enacted, 
that  none  of  the  king's  liege  people  should  from  thenceforth 
ship  any  merchandise,  either  for  exporting  from  the  realm  or 
importing  into  it,  in  any  other  ships  than  those  of  the  king's 
liegemen,  on  pain  of  forfeiting  all  merchandise  so  shipped ; 
one-third  of  it  to  the  benefit  of  the  person  who  should  duly  espy 
and  prove  such  transgression. ||  The  reason  assigned  for  this 
first  navigation  act  was,  "  to  increase  the  navy  of  England," 

*  28  Edward  HI.  c.  11. 

t  Bree'a  Cursory  Sketch,  J76, 177.    Henry,  iv.  479.  t  Henry,  iv.  170. 

§  Bree,  176.  1 .5  Ricbard  II.  stat.  1.  c.  3. 


286  NAVAL  HISTORY    OF  ENGLAND. 

„  which,  it  wEis  said,  is  now  very  greatly  diminished. 
In  the  next  year,  however,  it  was  deemed  necessary 
to  modify  the  ordinance,  and  declare,  that  it  was  to  be  en- 
forced only  in  plzujes  where  "  good  and  sufficient  ships  of 
the  king's  liegemen  should  be  found :  where  there  were  not 
such,  it  should  be  lawful  for  merchants  to  hire  and  freight 
other  vessels."* 

Richard  II.  had  succeeded  to  an  uneasy  throne.  Upon  the 
decease  of  his  illustrious  grandfather,  "  there  was  great  sor- 
row," says  Froissart,  "  made  in  England,  and  incontinent 
all  the  passages  of  the  realm  were  stopped,  that  none  should 
issue  out  of  the  land ;  for  they  would  not  that  the  death  of 
the  king  should  be  known  in  France,  till  they  bad  set  the 
realm  in  some  order."  When  the  king  of  France  heard  of 
his  death,  he  said,  that  he  had  reigned  right  nobly  and  va- 
liantly, and  that  well  he  deserved  to  be  placed  in  the  number 
of  the  worthies.  And  forthwith  he  assembled  a  great  number 
of  the  nobles  and  prelates  of  his  kingdom,  and  performed 
obsequies  for  Edward  in  the  holy  chapel  in  his  palace  at 
Paris.f  But  this  generous  and  natural  feeling  led  not  to  a 
renewal  of  peace  between  the  two  countries.  A  truce  had 
just  expired,  during  which  France  had  obtained  a  great 
supply  of  ships  and  galleys  from  her  ally  the  king  of  Cas- 
tile. Don  Ferrand  Sanchez  de  Tovar:}:  commanded  this 
Spanish  fleet :  a  French  squadron,  under  Jean  de  Vienne, 
joined  him.  To  this  person  the  vigour  which  the  French  at 
this  time  displayed  by  sea  has  been  chiefly  ascribed :  he 
used  to  say,  that  "the  English  were  nowhere  so  weak  as  in 
their  own  country ;"  a  remark  which  must  hold  good  of  most 
nations — because  the  weeik  are  always  found  at  home,  and  it 
is  the  strong  who  are  sent  abroad  to  make  war.  The  brave 
Welsh  adventurer,  sir  Yvan,  was  in  the  expedition.  They 
1 077  made  a  descent  on  the  Sussex  coast  a  few  days  after 
Edward's  death,  burned  the  town  of  Rye,  which  so 
often  suffered  in  such  invasions,  and  there  slew  men,  women, 
and  all  they  found.  The  festivities  of  the  coronation  were 
disturbed  by  this  news ;  upon  which  the  earls  of  Cfimbridge 
and  Buckingham  were  immediately  despatched  to  Dover, 
with  a  force  for  its  protection ;  and  the  earl  of  Salisbury  to 
Southampton.  Meantime  the  enemy  landed  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,§  and  burned  several  towns  there ;  "  and  though  they 

♦  6  Richard  II.  stat.  1.  c.  8.  t  Froissart,  Chron.  326. 

}  Ferraunt  Sanse,  Froissart  calls  bim. 

§  Vbyque,  lord  Berners  writes  the  name,  which,  as  Vb  stand  for  w,  and 
vv  for  w,  is  making  Froissart  appear  less  intelligible  than  he  is.  His  to- 
pography, indeed,  is  not  so  easily  adjusted  ;  for  be  tells  us,  that  in  this  Isle 


DECAY  OF  PUBLIC  SPIRIT.  287 

were  repelled  from  the  castle  by  the  valiant  manhood  of  sir 
Hugh  lirrel,  captain  thereof,  who  laid  no  small  number  of 
them  on  the  ground ;  yet  they  constrained  the  men  of  the  isle 
to  ^ive  them  1000  marks  of  silver  to  save  the  residue  of 
their  houses  and  goods."  They  burned  Portsmouth  also, 
and,  proceeding  westward,  burned  Dartmouth  and  Plymouth. 
Then,  coasting  back  again,  they  made  an  attempt  upon 
Southampton  ;  but  sir  John  Arundel  was  there,  with  a 
number  of  men-at-arms  and  archers,  who  defended  the  town, 
and  chased  the  invaders  to  their  ships.  From  thence  they 
proceeded  towards  Dover,  burned  Hastings,  and  attacked 
Winchelsea,  a  stronger  place,  where  they  were  bravely  re- 

fiulsed  by  the  abbot  of  Battle.  They  then  returned  back,  and 
anded  at  Rottingdean,  where  the  prior  of  Lewes,  sir  Thomas 
Cheyney,  and  sir  John  Fallesley,  collected  the  country  peo- 
ple, and  encountered  them  with  better  courage  than  success; 
for  the  prior  and  the  two  knights  were  taken,  and  above  100 
of  the  English  slain :  the  enemy,  however,  suffered  con- 
siderably in  this  action,  and,  bein^  satisfied  with  the  booty 
they  had  gained  and  the  devastation  they  had  committed, 
they  returned  to  France.* 

A  few  weeks  afterward,  while  the  impression  of  these  in- 
sults and  injuries  was  fresh,  parliament  assembled,  and  sir 
Peter  de  la  Mare,  who  is  the  first  speaker  of  the  house  of 
commons  upon  record,  declared,  in  the  name  of  that  house, 
that  the  realm  was  at  that  time  in  greater  danger  than  it  had 
ever  been.  He  complained,  that  whereas  merchants  were 
masters  of  their  own  ships,  and  had  the  free  disposal  of 
them,  yet  formerly  one  town  had  more  good  ships  than  the 
whole  nation  had  now.  And,  commending  the  feats  of  chi- 
valry for  which  the  English  had  been  so  renowned,  he  la- 
mented the  decay  of  that  spirit ;  by  reason  of  which,  he  said, 
the  honour  of  the  realm  did,  and  would,  daily  decrease. 
"  Part  of  the  prayer  of  the  commons  was,  that  the  charge 
of  the  king's  household  might  be  borne  by  the  revenues 
of  the  crown,  so  that  what  was  granted  for  the  war  might  be 
appropriated  to  that  use  enly."!  The  spirit  of  chivalry  had 
decayed,  because  it  had  lost  its  leaders.  Men  whose  restless 
activity  would  have  been  directed  abroad  under  a  strong 

fovernment,  busied  it  in  intrigues  at  home,  at  the  close  of 
Id  ward's  reign,  and  upon  the  succession  of  a  minor  in  his 
eleventh  year.     Sea  and  land  forces  were  now  raised,  and 

of  Wyqiie  the  enemy  burnt  the  towns  of  Lamende  (Lymington  ?),  Darte- 
monde,  Plemende,  Pleaumo  (?),  and  many  others;  after  which  they  coasted 
on,  and  attacked  ihe  port  of  Foq  (?).— c.  327. 
*  Holinshed,  ii .  715.  t  Pari.  Hist.  i.  160. 


288  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 

great  sums  borrowed  for  that  purpose,  till  means  should  be 
provided  by  parliament.  A  great  navy  put  to  sea,  under  the 
earl  of  Buckingham,  the  duke  of  Bretagne,  the  lords  Lati- 
mer and  Fitzwalter,  sir  Robert  Knolles,  and  others :  their 
object  was  to  intercept  the  Spaniards,  who  were  gone  to 
Sluys ;  but  they  were  twice  driven  back  by  storms,  so  that 
the  design  was  frustrated.* 

,o7Q  The  enemy,  meantime,  were  always  active.  There 
was  a  Scotchman,  John  Mercer  by  name,  who,  having 
been  captured  at  sea,  had  been  imprisoned  in  Scarborough 
castle.  His  son,  in  revenge  for  this,  got  together  "  certain 
sail  of  Scotch,  French,  and  Spaniards ;  came  to  Scarbo- 
rough, and  there  made  prize  of  all  the  ships  that  he  found. 
So  much  damage  had  been  done,  and  so  much  was  appre- 
hended from  these  sea-rovers,  that  John  Philpot,  "  that 
worshipful  citizen  of  London,"  lamenting  the  negligence  of 
those  that  should  have  provided  against  such  inconveniences, 
"  made  forth  a  fleet  at  his  own  charges,  strongly  furnished 
with  men-of-war  and  munition  necessary."  This  was  more 
like  an  alderman  of  the  Saxon  times  than  of  those  in  which 
Philpot  held  what  was  then  purely  a  civic  office.  His  ad- 
venture was  upon  a  great  scale,  and  fortune  favoured  it : 
"  the  men-of-war  meeting  with  the  same  Mercer,  accompanied 
with  his  own  ships,  and  fifteen  other  Spaniards,  that  were 
newly  joined  them,  set  upon  them,  and  so  valiantly  behaved 
themselves,  that  they  took  the  said  Mercer,  with  all  that 
were  then  in  his  company ;  so  recovering  again  the  ships  that 
were  taken  from  Scarborough,  besides  great  riches  which 
were  found  on  board,  as  Avell  in  the  fifteen  Spanish  ships  as 
in  the  others,  that  were  of  the  retinue  belonging  to  the  same 
Mercer."  The  alderman  was  called  to  account  for  "  pre 
suming  thus  far  as  to  set  forth  a  navy  of  men-of-war,  without 
the  advice  of  the  king's  council ;  but  he  made  his  answer  in 
such  wise  unto  the  earl  of  Stafford,  and  others  that  laid  the 
fault  to  his  charge,  that  he  was  permitted  to  depart  without 
further  trouble  for  that  matter."f — Philpot,  pleading  his  own 

*  Holinshed,  ii.  718. 

t  Holinshed,  ii.  719.  It  was  not  till  he  had  applio^  to  the  king's  coancil, 
representing  the  great  damage  done  by  this  piratical  fleet,  and  imploring 
their  aid,  that  Philpot  took  upon  himself  the  daty  which  the  government 
neglected;  "  for  which  action,"  says  Trussell,  "he  incurred  the  hard  censure 
of  most  of  the  noblemen,  from  whom  he  seemed  to  have  snatcht,  by  this 
his  fortunate  attempt,  the  native  cognizance  of  true  nobility."  When 
Stafford  "objected  against  him  the  unlawfulness  of  the  act,  without  au- 
thority, he  being  but  a  private  man,  to  attempt  and  levy  arms, — Philpot, 
with  a  kind  of  undaunted  resolution,  not  only  justified  the  act  as  though 
not  altogether  lawful,  yet  very  e.xpedient,  being  done  for  the  honour  of  God 
and  the  king,  and  the  security  of  the  republic,  but  retorted  the  objection 


\ 


CHERBOURG  CEDED  TO  EXGLAND.         289 

cause  before  the  council,  would  have  aflbrded  subject  for  a 
noble  scene  to  a  dramatist  of  the  Elizabethan  age. 

John  of  Gaunt  had  at  that  time  retired  from  the  court ;  but, 
as  the  chronicler  plainly  says,  he  was  yet  desirous  to  have 
tlie  money  in  his  hands  that  had  been  g^ranted  by  the  last 
parliament ;  and  he  obtained  it  upon  undertaking  to  defend 
the  realm  against  all  invasions  for  a  year's  space.  He  there- 
fore provided  a  navy,  and  hired  nine  ships  from  Bayonne  to 
assist  him  :  tliese  were  fortunate;  for,  on  their  way  to  Eng- 
land, they  fell  in  with  a  Spanish  fleet  of  merchantmen,  and 
took  fourteen  sail,  laden  with  wine  and  other  goods.  Before 
his  preparations  were  complete,  the  king  of  Navarre,  who 
was  anew  engaged  in  war  with  France,  demised  to  the  king 
of  England,  by  an  extraordinary,  if  not  singular,  agreement,* 
Ills  fortress  of  Cherbourg  for  a  certain  yearly  rent,  "  whereby 
the  Englishmen  might  have  free  entry  into  Normandy  when 
they  would,  as  well  to  aid  the  king  of  Navarre  in  his  necessity, 
as  to  work  any  enterprise  that  should  be  thought  expedient 
to  the  advantage  of  the  king  of  England,  as  occasion  served." 
Accordingly,  the  earls  of  Salisbury  and  Arundel  were  sent 
over  to  take  possession  of  the  place ;  and  an  armament  was 
despatched  to  garrison  it.  But  the  obtaining  possession  of 
Cherbourg  "brought  not  so  much  joy  to  the  English  nation 
as  the  mishap  at  the  going  forth  of  this  armament  caused 
lamentation  and  heaviness ;"  for,  upon  first  entering  the  sea, 
"  sir  Philip  and  sir  Peter  Courtenay  discovered  a  certain 
number  of  ships  that  were  enemies,  and  undiscreetly  entered 
amongst  them."  Suddenly  the  Spanish  fleet  came  upon 
them ;  so  that  the  English  ships  that  were  in  company  with 
sir  Philip  and  sir  Peter  were  not  able  to  make  their  party 
good.  Sir  Philip  got  away  by  flight,  grievously  wounded, 
and  with  the  loss  of  many  men.  Sir  Peter  was  taken  pri- 
soner, with  a  few  other  knights  that  were  with  him  :  aud 
these,  it  seems,  were,  because  of  their  rank,  the  only  persons 
to  whom  quarter  was  given ;  "  and  the  most  part  of  all  the 

of  improvidence  and  slothful  neglect  upon  the  earl  and  the  rest  of  the  coun- 
cil, so  that  they  were  much  to  seek  for  a  reply." — Covtin.  of  Daniel's  Hist. 
p.-i. 

*  This  part  of  the  agreement  is  not  mentioned  by  Froissart.  "  I  shall 
show  you,"  he  says,  in  lord  Berner's  language,  "how  this  treaty  went  be- 
tween the  two  kings.  One  thing  there  was :  the  king  of  Navarre  should 
from  thenceforth  always  be.  true  English,  and  should  nevor  make  peace 
with  the  realm  of  France,  nor  with  the  king  of  Castile,  without  the  know- 
ledge and  consent  of  the  king  of  England ;  and  if  the  king  of  England,  or 
any  of  his  men,  by  their  puissance,  could  get  any  towns  or  castles  that  the 
king  of  Navarre  ought  to  have  in  Normandy,  against  the  Frenchmen,  that 
the  same  towns  or  castles  should  abide  for  ever  to  be  English,  the  sovereignty 
ever  reserved  to  the  kingof  Navarre."— cap.  329. 
Vol.  I.  2  B 


290  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

valiant  esquires  of  Somersetshire  and  Devonshire,  being 
there  aboard  with  him,  were  slain  and  drowned,  which  was 
esteemed  no  small  loss  to  the  whole  commonwealth."* 
When  war  was  carried  on  in  such  a  spirit,  it  may  seem 
wonderful  that  Europe  was  not  brought  wholly  to  a  state  of 
jo~Q    barbarism:   and  assuredly  this  must  have  been  the 

'  '  inevitable  consequence,  had  it  not  been  for  the  hu- 
manizing influence  of  Christianity. 

The  duke  of  Bretagne  was  at  this  time  in  England,  hav- 
ing been  expelled  from  his  own  country  by  the  French,  and 
by  those  Breton  lords  who  were  of  the  French  party :  his  re- 
turn, however,  was  desired  in  many  places,  and  some  were 
still  maintained  for  him.  One  castle,  commanding  a  harbour 
which  was  frequented  by  the  English,  was  held  for  him  by 
sir  John  Clarke,  "  a  right  valiant  knight."  There  were  sev- 
eral English  vessels  lying  there;  the  French  were  informed 
of  this,  and  laid  a  plan  for  capturing  or  destroying  them. 
With  this  view,  they  sent  in  a  galley  to  set  them  on  fire ; 
and,  "  by  so  doing,  if  fortune  so  would,  to  train  the  English- 
men forth,  till  they  should  fall  into  the  laps  of  four  other  gal- 
leys, which  they  had  laid  as  it  had  been  in  ambush.  Even 
as  they  devised  so  it  came  to  pass :  the  English,  seeing  their 
vessels  in  danger  to  be  burnt,  ran  every  man  aboard,  to  save 
them  and  the  goods  within  them :  among  the  rest,  sir  John 
himself  hastened  on  board  one  of  the  ships,  meaning  to  take 
such  part  as  his  men  did  ;"  the  galley  then  withdrew  as  if 
taking  flight :  he  followed  the  decoy,  and  presently  the  incau- 
tious English  found  that  they  had  fallen  into  a  snare,  and 
were  unawares  attacked  at  advantage.  Sir  John  Clarke,  per- 
ceiving how  the  case  stood,  "  laid  about  him  like  a  giant, 
causing  his  company  still  to  draw  back,  whilst  he,  resisting 
his  enemies,  did  show  such  proof  of  his  valiancy,  that  they 
were  much  astonished  therewith."  He  so  manfully  behaved 
himself,  that  most  part  of  his  people  had  time  to  recover 
land ;  but,  when  he  that  had  thus  preserved  others  should 
have  leaped  out  of  the  ship  to  save  himself,  he  was  stricken 
on  the  thigh  with  an  axe,  and,  the  limb  being  almost  severed 
from  the  body,  he  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands,  and  died  pre- 
sently, "  leaving  a  remembrance  behind  him  of  many  worthy 
acts  that  his  valiancy  achieved,  to  his  high  praise  and  great 
commendation.  The  bark  of  York  was  lost  at  the  same 
time,  "  being  a  proper  vessel ;"  but  this  was  a  loss  to  both 
parties  ;  for  the  enemy  having  boarded  her,  and  thinking  to 

♦Holinshed,  ii.  719. 


THE  DUKE  OF  BRETAONE.  291 

carry  her  away,  she  sunk,  and  the  captors  and  prisoners  went 
down  in  her.* 

Clarke  had  been  fellow  in  arms  with  sir  Hugh  Calverly,  the 
most  distinguished  then  surviving  captain,  who  had  been  train- 
ed in  king  Edward's  wars,  and  who,  having  distinguished 
himself  when  deputy-governor  of  Calais,  was  now  made  ad- 
miral, being  joined  in  commission  in  that  office  with  sir  Tho- 
mas Percy.  Their  first  service  was  to  convoy  the  duke  of  Bre- 
tagne  home ;  his  people,  impatient  of  the  exactions  which 
they  suffered  from  the  French,  having  earnestly  invited  him 
to  return.  They  landed  in  the  port  of  Guarande,  near  St.  Ha- 
loes ;  and  at  his  landing  he  was  likely  to  have  lost  "  all  such 
furniture,  as  well  of  victuals,  apparel,  hangings,  bedding,  ar- 
mour, and  other  things,  whicn  either  he  or  his  train  had 
brought  with  them."  For  the  French  galleys  were  hovering 
about,  espying  him  ;  and  as  soon  as  he  and  his  company 
were  landed,  before  the  baggage-ships  could  enter  the  haven, 
which  was  somewhat  strait,  their  galleys  bore  down  upon 
them,  and  would  have  taken  them,  in  Calverly,  like  his  poor 
old  comrade  Clarke,  but  with  better  fortune,  had  not  hasten- 
ed with  his  archers  to  the  rescue.  He  caused  the  master 
of  the  ship,  "  even  against  his  will,"  to  turn  back  in  the  face 
of  the  enemy,  and  through  his  manful  prowess  the  galleys 
were  expelled,  and  the  ships  saved ;  for,  according  to  his 
wonted  valiancy,  he  would  not  return  till  he  saw  all  others  in 
safety  ;  and  then,  defending  himself  as  well  as  he  might,  he 
withdrew  into  the  haven,  and  landed  safely.f 

When  the  duke  went  to  Nantes,  there  came  to  see  him, 
says  Froissart,  barons,  prelates,  knights,  and  squires,  ladies, 
and  damsels,  offering  him  their  services,  and  putting  them- 
selves under  his  obeisance,  complaining  greatly  of  the 
Frenchmen,  who  did  much  hurt  in  the  country.  The  duke 
appeased  them,  and  said,  "  My  friends,  I  shall  shortly  have 
comfort  out  of  England  ;  for,  without  aid  of  England,  I  can- 
not well  defend  the  land  against  the  Frenchmen,  for  they  are 
too  big  for  us,  seeing  that  we  are  not  all  one  in  our  own  coun- 
try, fiut  when  the  aid  that  the  king  of  England  shall  send  us 
be  once  come,  if  they  have  done  us  wrong,  we  shall  quit  them 
again.":}:  The  succour  which  he  promised  was  provided,  and 
was  a  "  sufficient  power,  undoubtedly,  to  have  done  a  great 
enterprise,"  if  what  man  purposes  were  not  in  a  great  degree 
dependent  upon  casualties  that  he  can  neither  foresee  nor 
forefend.  Sir  John  Arundel  had  the  command  of  this  expe- 
dition :  there  went  with  him  the  two  admirals,  Calverly  and 

•  Holinshed,  ii.  TiO.  f  Ibid.  734.  J  Froissart,  il.  ?55. 


292  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

Percy,  sir  William  Elmham,  sir  Thomas  Morews,  sir  Tho- 
mas Banester,  and  many  other  knights  and  esquires.  A  more 
unhappy  fleet  *has  seldom  sailed  from  the  British  shores. 
They  set  forth  from  Southampton.  "  The  first  day  the  wind 
was  reasonably  good  for  them ;  but  against  night  it  turned 
contrary,  and  whether  they  would  or  not,  they  were  driven  to 
the  coast  of  Cornwall :  the  wind  was  so  sore  and  streynable 
that  they  could  cast  none  anchor,  and  also  they  durst  not ;" 
so  that,  looking  "  presently  to  be  cast  away,  they  were  scat- 
tered here  and  there,  and  driven  they  knew  not  whither." 
The  ship  where  Arundel  was  aboard  was  driven  to  the  coast 
of  Ireland,  and  they  ran  it  upon  an  isle  just  as  it  was  going 
to  pieces.  The  master,  who  was  a  skilful  seaman  of  Black- 
ney,  in  Norfolk,  Robert  Rust  by  name,  was  the  first  that  got 
to  land,  "  giving  example  to  others  how  to  shift  for  them- 
selves." But  he  did  this  with  no  selfish  disregard  of  any  be- 
sides himself ;  for  when  he  saw  that  sir  John  Arundel  had 
got  upon  the  sands,  and  "  as  one  thinking  himself  past  all 
danger,"  was  beginning  to  shake  his  wet  garments  there,  he, 
well  knowing  the  dangerous  state  in  which  he  yet  stood,  ran 
to  him,  and  "  raught  to  him  his  hand,  enforcing  himself  to 
pluck  him  to  the  shore ;  but,  whilst  he  thus  took  care  for  an- 
other man's  safety  and  neglected  his  own,  they  both  perished 
together ;  for  through  a  mighty  billow  of  the  raging  seas  they 
were  both  overthrown,"  and  with  the  return  of  the  wave 
drawn  into  the  deep,  so  that  they  could  never  recover  foot 
hold  again,  but  were  drowned. 

To  the  like  end  came  sir  Thomas  Banester,  sir  Nicholas 
Trumpington,  and  sir  Thomas  Dale, "  impeaching  each  other, 
as  they  leapt  forth  of  the  ship."  One  Musard,  an  esquire, 
"  a  most  seemly  personam  and  a  bold,"  and  another  esquire 
named  Denioke,  being  dmost  out  of  danger,  were  fetched 
away  by  the  surge,  and  so  perished  with  many  others.  They 
that  escaped  to  land  in  that  isle  found  nothing  there  to  relieve 
their  miseries  but  bare  ground;  so  that,  wanting  fire  and 
other  succour,  many  died  with  cold  and  exhaustion.  "  The 
residue,  that  were  lusty  and  wise  withal,  ran  up  and  down, 
and  sometimes  wrestling,  and  otherwise  chafing  themselves, 
remained  there  in  great  misery,  from  the  Thursday  till 
Sunday  at  noon ;  at  what  time,  when  the  sea  was  appeased 
and  waxen  calm,  the  Irishmen  that  dwelt  over  against  this 
isle,  on  the  main,  came  and  fetched  them  thence,  and  re- 
lieved them  the  best  they  could,  being  almost  dead  through 
travail,  hunger,  and  cold."  Rust,  the  master,  was  much 
lamented,  because  he  who  was  an  old  and  experienced  sea- 
man had  seen  such  signs  of  ill  weather,  that  he  had  advised 


SIR  HUGH  CALVERLY's  ESCAPE.  293 

Arundel  not  to  put  to  sea  at  that  time,  but  had  by  him  been 
constrained  to  do  so  against  his  own  will  and  better  judg- 
ment. "The  said  sir  John  Arundel,"  says  Holinshed,  "lost 
not  only  his  life,  but  all  his  furniture  and  apparel  for  his  body, 
which  was  very  sumptuous,  so  that  it  was  thought  to  sur- 
mount the  apparel  of  any  king ;  for  he  had  two-and-fifty  new 
suits  of  apparel  of  cloth  of  gold,  or  tissue,  as  was  reported ; 
all  the  which,  together  with  his  horses  and  geldings,  amount- 
ing to  the  value  of  10,000  marks,  was  lost  in  the  sea.  He 
was  not  lamented  like  the  old  master;  and,  indeed,  he  de- 
served a  worse  fate."  The  chronicler  says,  that  in  this  case 
outrageous  wickedness  was  justly  punished,  and  that  the 
catastrophe  which  befell  these  men  was  regarded  as  a  judg- 
ment ;  for  not  content  with  abusing  men's  wives  and  daugh- 
ters in  the  ports  before  they  took  ships,  they  carried  them  off 
with  them  to  sea — by  persuasion  or  by  force — and  when  the 
tempest  raged  they  threw  them  overboard,  "  either  for  that 
they  would  not  be  troubled  with  their  lamentable  noise  and 
crying,  or  for  that  they  thought  so  long  as  they  had  such  wo- 
men aboard  with  them,  whom  they  had  abused  so  long,  God 
would  not  cease  the  rage  of  the  tempest."  The  chronicler 
who  repeats  this  believed  the  accusation,  which,  indeed, 
would  not  have  arisen  unless  the  character  of  the  men  had 
been  such  as  to  render  it  credible :  but  he  perceived  how 
presumptuous  it  was  to  affirm  that  a  particular  judgment 
should  have  brought  on  a  general  storm ;  "  for  where,"  he 
says,  "  the  Spanish  and  French  fleets  were  abroad  at  the 
same  time,  being  assembled  together  to  annoy  the  coasts  of 
this  land,  their  ships  were  likewise  tossed  and  turmoiled,  in- 
somuch that  the  damage  that  they  sustained  was  thought  far 
to  pass  that  which  happened  to  the  English  navy." 

Five-and-twenty  English  ships  were  lost  in  this  storm, 
with  a  great  many  horses,  and  above  1000  men.  Sir  Hugh 
Calverly  escapedf;  "but  never  in  his  life  before,"  says 
Froissart,  "  was  he  so  nigh  his  death,  for  all  who  were  in 
his  ship,  except  himself  and  seven  mariners,  were  drowned : 
they  who  were  saved  took  hold  of  planks  and  masts,  and  the 
strength  of  the  wind  brought  them  to  the  sands.  Howbeit 
they  had  drank  water  enough,  whereof  they  were  right  sick, 
and  evil  at  ease."  The  ships  that  rode  out  the  storm  were 
"  sore  tormented,  and  in  great  peril :"  they  put  back  to  Eng- 
land ;  and  "  thus  broke  up  that  journey,  whereby  the  duke 
of  Bretagne  could  have  no  comfort  of  the  Englishmen, 
which  was  right  contrarious  to  him  ;  for  all  that  season,  and 
the  winter  following,  the  Frenchmen  made  him  right  sore 
2  b3 


294  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

war."*  The  loss  which  the  enemy  sustained  by  this  storm 
was  only  that  of  the  ships  and  men  that  perished  :  none  of 
their  plans  were  frustrated,  and  they  were  soon  again  in 
^nan  forcB  upon  the  seas.  Olivier  de  Clisson,  the  butcher, 
'  in  command  of  a  number  of  ships  and  galleys,  French 
and  Spanish,  invaded  the  western  and  southern  coast, 
"  making  prizes  and  spoiling  and  burning  sundry  towns,  and 
so  continued  to  endamage  the  English  people  that  inhabited 
near  to  the  seaside  all  the  summer  following."  Part  of 
them,  however,  were  driven  off  by  some  of  our  west-country 
ships,  when  the  people  were  roused  to  exert  themselves ; 
and  they  were  pursued  into  the  harbour  of  Kinsale,  where 
the  English  and  Irish  assailed  them,  slew  some  400,  took 
their  chief  captains,f  captured  four  of  their  barges  with 
a  ballenger,  and  recaptured  one-and-twenty  English  ves- 
sels. This,  however,  was  but  a  small  part  of  the  enemies' 
force :  the  Spanish  fleet  alone  consisted  of  twenty  galleys, 
under  D.  Ferrand  Sanchez  de  Tovar ;  and  they,  "  with  the 
French  galleys  still  lying  on  the  seas,  Avhen  they  espied 
any  advantage,  would  land  their  people,  and  do  what  mis- 
chief they  could,  in  taking  preys,  and  burning  towns  and 
villages ;  although  now  and  then  they  came  short  to  their 
vessels  again,  losing  sometimes  100,  sometimes  fourscore, 
that  were  overtaken  by  the  Englishmen  that  came  forth 
against  them."  Portsmouth,  Hastings,  Winchelsea,  and 
llj-e,  places  which  generally  suffered  in  such  invasions, 
were  burnt  by  them ;  and  at  Winchelsea  the  abbot  of  Battle, 
who  was  a  brave  soldier  of  the  church  militant,  was  defeat- 
ed when  he  came  with  his  people  to  succour  the  town  as  he 
had  done  before,  and  "  one  of  his  monks  that  was  then  in 
armour  with  him  was  taken."  Finally,  this  boldness  so  far 
increased,  that  they  entered  the  Thames,  and  came  up  to 
Gravesend,  most  part  of  which  town  they  burnt ;  and  having 
burnt  and  spoiled  many  places  on  both  sides  the  river,  with- 
out receiving  any  hurt  themselves,  they  returned  to  France, 
carrying  with  them  "  both  rich  spoils  and  good  prisoners."^; 

*  Froissari,  Cliron.  356.    Holinshed,  ii.  725,  72C. 

t  I  cannot  rectify  the  names,  which  are  thus  given  by  Holinshed: — 
"Gonsalve  de  Verse,  and  his  brother  John  Martin  de  Motrigo  ;  Turgo,  lord 
of  Morants ;  also  the  lord  of  Reith,  Pfcers  Martin  of  Verraew  (Berraeo) ; 
John  Model  of  Vermew ;  the  seneschal  of  Wargarel ;  the  seneschal  of 
St.  Andrew ;  Cornelio  of  St.  Sebastiano ;  Paschale  de  Biskaye ;  John  Mar- 
tinis ;  Sopogorge  of  St.  Sebastiano.  The  four  notable  captains  who  escaped 
to  do  farther  mischief  were  Martin  Grantz  (Garcia?),  John  Peres  Mantago 
(Montijo?),  John  Husca  Gitario  (Huerta  Gutierrez?),  and  one  Garcias  of 
St.  Sebastiano. 

tPabyan,  529.  Holinshed.  ii.  731.  Ayala  (Cronica  del  Rey  Don  Juan  1. 
an.  li.  c.  1.)  says  of  the  Spanish  galleys,  of  which  ten  were  supplied  con- 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.  295 

iSiich  liostilities  would,  in  the  better  days  of  Edward  III., 
have  roused  a  becoming  spirit:  but  there  were  already 
symptoms  that  this  was  likely  to  be  a  feeble  and  disturbed 
reign  ;  weakness  was  showing  itself  in  the  young  king,  fac- 
tion in  his  ambitious  kinsmen,  and  discontent  among  the 
people.  The  prosperity  which  the  war,  while  it  was  pros- 
perous, had  introduced,  had  not  reached  the  great  body  of  the 
population ;  but  the  taxation  which  was  necessary  for  sup- 
porting tlie  war  bore  upon  them,  and  produced  that  impa- 
tience for  bringing  it  to  an  end,  which,  whenever  it  prevails, 
must  render  it  impossible  for  peace  to  be  procured,  otherwise 
than  with  dishonour.  The  commons,  when  in  the  second 
year  of  this  reign,  they  were  asked  for  supplies  to  make 
such  an  expedition  as  might  be  for  the  destruction  of  their 
enemies,  replied,  that  the  people  "were  in  a  lower  condition 
than  ever,  by  reason  of  the  great  sums  that  they  had  already 
paid,  and  also  because  of  the  murrain  among  their  cattle,  and 
the  enemy's  burnings  and  depredations  upon  the  sea-coasts. 
Flour,  corn,  and  cattle,  they  said,  were  at  so  low  a  rate,  that 
no  money  could  be  raised ;  wherefore  they  prayed  the  king 
to  excuse  them,  as  not  being  able  of  mere  poverty  to  bear 
any  farther  charge.  And  they  expressed  a  suspicion  that  the 
money  which  had  before  been  granted  could  not  have  been 
expended,  but  that  there  must  needs  be  a  great  sum  in  the 
treasury.  To  this  it  was  replied,  upon  the  testimony  of 
William  Walworth  and  John  Philpot  (great  names  in  the 
history  of  London),  who  had  been  receivers  of  the  subsidies 
of  wool,  "  that  every  penny  thereof  had  been  expended  upon 
the  war,  and  that  none  of  it  came  to  tjie  high  treasurer  of 
England,  or  any  other  person,  to  the  use  of  the  king;  and 
that  the  revenues  of  the  crown,  considering  the  annuities 
and  other  charges  upon  them,  granted  by  his  father  and 
grandfather,  were  so  small,  that  without  the  customs  of 
wool  and  the  lands  of  the  priors  aliens,  the  honour  and  estate 
of  the  king  could  not  be  maintained."  They  demanded  to 
see  the  accounts,  and  the  accounts  accordingly  were  laid 
before  them  :  the  king,  it  was  premised,  having  "  so  willed 
and  commanded,  of  his  own  motion  to  please  the  commons  ; 
not  that  it  was  of  right  for  him  so  to  do,  or  that  he  was 
obliged  to  do  it,  but  only  by  reason  of  their  request."  When 
the  commons  had  examined  the  enrolment,  receipts,  and  ex- 
penses, they  declared  themselves  well  satisfied  with  them, 

formably  to  treaty,  and  the  other  ten  equipped  at  the  expense  of  the  French 
king, — "  Ficieron  grand  guerra  esle  ano  a  los  Inglcscx  per  la  mar;  6  en- 
traron  per  el  rio  dc  Artainisa,  fasta  rerca  de  la  cibdad  de  Londres,  d  dA 
galcas  de  encinigos  nunca  entraron."  The  Spaniards  have  not  often  re- 
lated the  exploits  of  their  countrymen  so  modestly. 


296  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

as  being  honourable  for  the  king  and  kingdom ;  but  they 
objected  that  the  sum  of  46,000/.,  which  had  been  expended 
in  keeping  the  marches  of  Calais,  Brest,  Cherbourg,  Gascony, 
and  Ireland,  ought  not  to  be  charged  upon  them;  because  it 
seemed  to  them  that  they  were  not  bound  to  bear  any  foreign 
charge.  To  this  it  was  answered  by  the  king's  counsel, 
"  that  Gascony  and  the  forts  beyond  sea  were  barbicans, 
and,  as  it  were,  outworks  and  defences  to  England ;  and  that 
if  they  were  well  guarded,  and  the  sea  well  kept,  the  king- 
dom would  be  quiet, — otherwise  it  could  not  be  so."* 
JOQ1  The  appearance  of  an  enemy's  fleet  in  the  Thames 
was  so  far  from  kindling  an  English  spirit,  that  it 
seemed  shamefully  to  extinguish  it ;  and  the  commons  peti- 
tioned that  an  end  might  be  made  of  the  war,  which  was  in 
great  part  maintained,  they  said,  by  the  goods  that  the  enemy 
took  from  the  English,  to  the  great  dishonour  of  the  govern- 
ment and  nation,  and  destruction  of  the  whole  realm.  Ill 
must  they  have  been  informed  in  the  history  of  their  own 
country,  or  little  must  they  have  remembered  it,  not  to  un- 
derstand, that  peace,  solicited  from  such  motives,  and  in 
such  a  spirit,  must  produce  greater  dishonour,  and  ensure  the 
destruction  that  it  was  intended  to  avert !  When  they  were 
told  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  treasury  to  defray  the  costs 
that  had  been  incurred  in  quelling  Wat  Tyler's  insurrection, 
the  coronation  of  the  queen  who  was  now  coming  over, 
guarding  the  seas,  keeping  the  fortresses,  and  the  defence  of 
the  kingdom,  they  made  answer,  that,  "  considering  the  evil 
hearts  and  rancour  of  the  people  throughout  the  whole  realm, 
they  neither  durst  nor  would  grant  any  matter  of  talliage." 
After  the  recent  experience  which  they  had  had  of  anarchy,  this 
declaration  would  have  been  insane  if  they  had  been  sincere 
in  making  it ;  but  it  seems  to  have  been  intended  only  as 
the  means  of  obtaining  a  declaration  of  grace  and  pardon, 
concerning  which  the  king  said  he  would  advise  farther  till 
they  should  have  done  what  belonged  to  them.  They  then, 
considering  the  great  charge  of  the  king,  as  well  here  as 
beyond  sea,  granted  the  subsidies,  and  the  king  ordered  his 
declaration  to  be  made.f 

The  people  of  Rye,  however,  and  some  other  ports,  who 
knew  that  their  best  security  must  be  in  their  own  strength 
and  exertions,  fitted  out  a  squadron,  put  to  sea,  and  brought 
home  seven  prizes,  all  richly  laden  with  wine,  wax,  and 
other  good  merchandise,  and  with  300  men  on  board.  One 
of  the  prizes  had  been  "taken  from  the  English  aforetime, 

*  Pari.  Hist.  I.  166,  $t  $iq.  f  Ibid  I.  174,  175. 


NAVAL  OPERATIONS.  297 

and  was  called  the  Falcon,  belonging  to  the  lord  William  Lati- 
mer."* These  ships  were  called  pirates,  which  may,  how- 
ever, have  been  used  as  a  common  appellation  for  regular 
enemies  who  carried  on  a  sort  of  piratical  war.  But  pirates 
were  at  this  time  so  numerous,  the  same  causes  which  pro- 
duced the  White  Companies  in  France  sending  other  ruf- 
fians of  the  same  stzimp  to  seek  their  fortunes  on  the  seas, 
that  the  Hanse  townsf  found  it  necessary,  a  few  years  later, 
to  send  out  a  fleet  of  twenty  sail  for  the  purpose  of  destroy- 
ing them.  The  success  of  the  Rye  adventurers  animated 
others.  Portsmouth  sent  forth  a  squadron  to  attack  four 
French  ballengers,  which  intercepted  the  intercourse  between 
England  and  Flanders,  and  also  annoyed  the  trade  with  Gas- 
cony  :  they  fell  in  with  them,  "  fought  a  sore  and  cruel  battle, 
and  in  the  end  slew  all  the  enemies,  nine  only  excepted,  and 
took  all  their  vessels." — "Another  fleet  of  Englishmen  took 
eight  French  ships,  which  had  aboard  1500  tons  of  good 
wines,  that  comforted  the  Englishmen  greatly.":!:  At  .oq. 
this  time  the  king  of  France,  Charles  VI.,  had  col- 
lected so  large  a  fleet  as  to  excite  suspicion  of  his  designs. 
•'  A  strong  navy"  was  sent  to  sea  under  the  lord  sir  John  and 
sir  Thomas  Percy,  who  gained  little  honour  by  their  cruise ; 
"  for,"  the  chronicler  says,  "  they  did  no  good  ;  suffering  the 
French  fleet  divers  times  to  pass  by  them,  and  not  once  of- 
fering to  set  upon  them.  But  the  ships  of  Portsmouth  and 
Dartmouth  bestirred  themselves  better;  for,  entering  the 
river  Seine,  they  drowned  four  of  the  enemy's  ships,  and 
took  other  four,  with  a  bark  of  the  lord  CJisson's,  one  of  the 
fairest  that  was  to  be  found  either  in  France  or  England.  In 
these  vessels  the  Englishmen  had  a  rich  prize  of  wines  and 
other  merchandises."§ 

When  Richard  succeeded  to  the  throne,  France  counted 
upon  the  naval  aid  of  Portugal  as  well  as  of  Castile ;  king 
ternando  of  Portugal  having  engaged  himself,||  by  treaty, 
to  furnish  five  galleys  toward  the  succour  with  which  Cas- 
tile had  promised  yearly  to  assist  the  French.  Upon  the 
death  of  iFernando  a  change  in  the  order  of  succession  took 
place ;  and,  among  many  most  important  consequences,  led 
to  those  friendly  relations  between  Portugal  and  England, 
which,  with  little  interrruption,  have  subsisted  from  that 
time  till  the  present.     As  soon  as  the  Portuguese,  after  the 

•  Hnlinshed,  ii.  754. 

t  Jacobus  n  Mcllen,  riist..Lubecen8i8,  ab  anno  1300  and  1400,  c.  3.  §21. 

t  Holinshed,  ii.  762.  §  Ibid.  765. 

I  Ayala,  Cronica  del  Rcy  Don  Enrique  II.  an.  viii.  c.  6. 


298  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

most  heroic  struggle  in  their  eventful  history,  had  succeeded 
in  expelling  their  Castilian  invaders,  they  sent  six  galleys 
to  the  king  of  England,  "to  aid  him  against  his  adversa- 
ries :" — "  the  which,"  says  the  chronicler,*  "  were  well  re- 
ceived and  highly  made  of  by  the  Londoners  and  others ;  so 
that  the  Portingales  had  no  cause  to  repent  of  their  coming 
hither."  England  had  a  nearer  ally  in  Flanders,  where, 
after  the  fatal  battle  of  Roosebeke,  and  the  death  of  the 
younger  and  greater  Arteveld,  the  popular  party  had  recovered 
sufficient  strength  to  maintain  a  resolute  war  against  the 
duke  of  Burgundy,  Philip  the  Bold,  to  whom  that  province 
had  fallen  upon  the  death  of  count  Louis  de  Male.  Philip 
was  powerfully  assisted  by  his  nephew  the  king  of  France ; 
and  no  war  was  ever  carried  on  with  circumstances  of  more 
atrocious  cruelty, f — those  on  the  duke's  part  setting  an  ex- 
ample which  the  commons  were  not  slow  in  retaliating.  The 
French  king,  Charles  VL,  thought  to  prevent  the  English 
from  taking  any  further  part  in  these  troubles,  by  pursuing 
the  old  policy  of  stirring  up  hostilities  on  the  side  of  Scot- 
,„Qc  land.  With  this  object  he  sent  the  admiral  Jezui 
de  Vienne  to  that  country,  with  considerable  supplies 
of  men  and  money  :  the  Scotch,  thus  encouraged  and  aided, 
crossed  the  border,  and  began  to  rob  and  spoil ;  for  which 
severe  vengeance  was  speedily  taken  by  the  king  himself, 
at  the  head  of  an  army.  The  result  was,  that  when,  after 
many  cruelties  and  great  mischief,  both  armies  had  retired 
into  their  respective  countries,  the  Scotch,  imputing  their 
losses  to  the  ill  conduct  or  ill  counsel  of  their  French  allies, 
despoiled  them  of  their  goods,  and  sent  them  away.:}:    The 

*  Holinshed,  i.  767. 

t  "Fue,  si  la  huvo  jamas  en  Flandes,  atroz  y  sangrienta  la  guerra." — 
Sueyro,ii.  7. 

I  Holinshed,  ii.  767-  Sueyro,  ii.  6.  The  story,  as  Froissart  relates  it,  is 
an  edifying  one  : — "  When  the  admiral  and  his  company  were  returned  into 
Scotland,  and  were  come  to  Edinburgh,  they  had  endured  great  pain,  and 
they  could  find  nothing  to  buy  for  their  money  :  wine  they  had  but  little, 
and  but  small  ale  or  beer ;  and  their  bread  was  of  barley  or  of  oats,  and 
their  horses  were  dead  for  hunger,  and  foundered  for  poverty ;  and  when 
they  would  have  sold  them,  they  wist  not  to  whom,  nor  there  was  none 
would  give  them  one  penny  neither  for  horse  nor  for  harness.  The  soldiers 
showed  to  their  captains  how  they  were  dealt  withal,  and  they  knew  it 
right  well  by  experience  of  themselves. — The  admiral, — he  saw  well  the 
evils  of  the  Scots,  and  considered  the  peril  of  his  people;  then  he  gave 
leave  to  depart  all  such  as  would  ;  but  at  their  departing  was  the  mischief, 
for  the  lords  could  find  no  passage  for  themselves  nor  for  their  men.  The 
Scots  would  that  such  knights  and  squires  as  were  but  poor  should  depart, 
to  the  intent  that  they  might  rule  the  remnant  at  more  ease;  and  they  said 
to  the  admiral,  'Sir,  let  your  men  depart  when  they  will ;  but  as  for  "your- 
self, ye  shall  not  depart  out  of  this  country  till  we  be  full  satisfied  of  all 
such  charges  as  we  have  borne  this  season  for  your  army.'  And  when  the 
admiral  saw  that  it  would  be  none  otherivise,  he  considered  well  bow  ha 


THE  ENGLISH  BESIEOB  BIERVILET.  299 

English  were  thus  enabled  to  direct  their  attention  towards 
Flanders;  and,  invading  the  isle  of  Cadsant,  which  held 
the  duke's  part,  they  laid  it  waste  with  fire  and  sword.  A 
fleet  of  Easterlings,  with  some  ships  of  Holland  and  Zee- 
land,  coming  from  the  north,  being,  by  stress  of  weather, 
driven  to  that  coast,  and  ready,  as  all  ships  seem  in  those 
times  to  have  been,  for  any  adventure  that  promised  profit  or 
plunder,  joined  them  ;  so  that,  with  their  allies  from  Ghent, 
above  100  sail  were  collected.  Sluys  was  then  garrisoned, 
for  the  duke  by  the  French  :  they  took  one  of  the  Easterling 
ships,  and  put  to  death  the  whole  crew, — in  return  for  which 
all  the  French  on  board  were,  in  like  manner,  slain  when 
the  English  recaptured  the  vessel.  The  fleet  now  separated  ; 
the  English  making  for  the  French  coast  to  make  prize  of 
ships  which  they  heard  were  loading  at  Abbeville  and  St. 
Valery ;  the  Gautese,  with  thirty  sail,  to  make  an  attempt 
upon  Antwerp.  They  failed  in  it,  and  with  considerable 
loss ;  and,  by  orders  of  Guy  de  Tremouille,  who  seems  to 
have  been  the  French  commandant  there,  the  eyes  of  some 
of  the  prisoners  were  put  out;  for  which,  cruelty  as  usual 
provoking  cruelty,  such  French  as  happened  to  be  prisoners 
m  Ghent  were  put  to  death. 

The  English,  after  having  succeeded  fully  in  their  expe- 
dition, returned  to  the  Flemish  coast;  and,  having  landed 
their  succours  at  Sas  de  Gam,  the  Gantese,  with  their  aid, 
laid  siege  to  Biervilet  by  sea  and  land.  A  force  of  Holland- 
ers and  Hainaulters  compelled  them  to  retire.  On  their  re- 
treat they  burnt  Hugevliet,  Isendyck,  Oostburgh,  and  wasted 
with  fire  and  sword  most  of  the  eastern  part  of  that  fertile 
district  called  the  Vrye,  and  did  still  greater  hurt  by  break- 
ing down  the  dikes.*     Frans  Ackerman,  one  of  the  ablest 


was  without  comfort,  and  closed  in  with  the  sea,  and  saw  how  the  Scota 
were  of  ^wild  opinion  ;  wherefore  he  was  fain  to  agree  to  the  Scots'  intent, 
and  caused  a  cry  to  be  made,  that  all  manner  of  persons  should  come  to  the 
admiral  of  France,  and  prove  that  any  of  his  men  had  done  them  any 
damage,  and  he  would  recompense  them  to  the  value  thereof;  which  cry 
appeased  the  Scots,  and  so  the  admiral  became  debtor  to  them  all,  and  said 
how  ho  would  not  depart  out  of  Scotland  till  all  the  complainants  were  fully 
tatisAnd  and  paid.  Then  divers  knights  and  esquires  had  passage  and  so 
returned,  some  into  Flanders,  and  as  wind  and  weather  would  drive  them, 
without  horse  and  harness,  right  poor  and  feeble,— cursing  the  day  that 
ever  they  came  in  Scotland,— wishing  that  the  French  king  had  peace  with 
England  one  year  or  two,  and  so  both  kings  together  to  go  into  Scotland, 
utterly  to  destroy  that  realm  for  ever ;  for  they  said  they  never  saw  so  evil 
people,  nor  bo  false  traitors,  nor  more  foolish  people  in  feats  of  war."— B.  iii. 
c.  16. 

*  Sueyro  (ii.  8.)  ascribea  this  to  the  English ;  Sandenis  (ii.  208.)  to  the 
Gantese,  of  whom  he  says  a  great  part  perished  in  the  inundation  which 
they  thus  occasioned. 


300  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

demagogues  of  that  age,  but  also  one  of  the  most  moderate 
and  least  cruel,  commanded  the  forces  of  Ghent:  he  had  re- 
cently failed  in  an  attempt  upon  Aardenburg,  where  he  hoped 
to  have  taken  the  lord  of  Merlemont,  Hans  Van  Jumont,  a 
monster,  who  used  either  to  put  out  the  e3'^es  or  cut  off  the 
ears  and  noses  of  all  the  Gantese  that  fell  into  his  hands, 
and  whose  name  was,  for  many  generations,  deservedly  exe- 
crated in  those  countries.*  Ackennan  had  promised  the 
people  of  Ghent  not  to  return  till  he  had  taken  some  town ; 
and,  having  failed  there,  he  turned  his  thoughts  towards  a 
place  of  more  importance.  He  learnt  from  his  espials  that 
Roger  Van  Ghistelles,  the  governor  of  Damme,  was  gone 
from  thence  to  Bruges :  he  approached  Damme  tliat  same 
night,  succeeded  in  passing  the  ditch,  and  setting  up  his 
scaling  ladders  unperceived.  Some  of  his  people  who  had 
to  recover  their  reputation  were  the  first  to  enter :  they 
opened  the  gates.  The  garrison  was  not  strong :  they  who 
resisted  were  slain;  but  no  others  were  injured  :  and  to  this 
then  rare  instance  of  humanity  Ackerman  added  an  example 
of  courtesy  such  as  was  more  likely  to  have  been  learnt  in 
the  camp  of  the  Black  Prince  than  in  the  war  of  the  White 
Hoods.  Seven  of  the  principal  ladies  of  the  country  had 
come  thither  to  be  with  the  wife  of  Roger  Van  Ghistelles,  who 
was  about  to  lie  down  in  child-bed  :  Ackerman  treated  these 
ladies,  not  as  captives,  but  as  guests  :  he  made  a  banquet  for 
them,  and  assured  them,  with  an  oath,  that  no  wrong  should 
be  offered  them ;  for  though  he  waged  war  with  men,  he 
knew  how  to  respect  the  virtue  and  the  modesty  of  women. 
This  assurance  was  faithfully  kept ;  and  he  won  thereby  the 
respect,  and  even  the  good  will,  of  the  party  to  which  he 
was  opposed. f 

He  lost  no  time  in  demanding  succours  from  Ghent,  to 
keep  a  place,  for  the  recovery  of  which,  as  being  the  port  of 
Bruges,  he  knew  that  the  utmost  exertions  would  be  made. 
The  bayley  of  Ghent  was  immediately  sent  thither  with 
some  chosen  men  and  a  body  of  English  archers.  The  duke 
of  Burgundy  might  have  found  the  reconquest  an  achieve- 
ment beyond  his  strength,  defended  as  the  place  was  likely 
to  be  by  such  men,  and  being  within  the  reach  of  English 

*  Sueyro,  ii.  7. 

t  Sueyro,  ii.  8.  Froissart,  ii.  163.  "The  cellars  here,"  he  says,  "were 
full  of  malvoisic  et  de  garnacher,"  which  last  word  lord  Berners  renders 
"  wine  Granade."  This  we  are  sure  must  be  wrong.  Roquefort  says  it 
was  a  foreign  white  wine,  and  states  the  duty,  which,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  fourteenth  century,  it  paid  in  France,  where  it  was  also  known 
by  the  names  of  Galrigache  and  Galvache;  from  the  latter  name  it  may  be 
conjectured  that  it  was  a  Spanish  wine  fromGelves. 


SIEGE  OF  DAMME.  301 

aid :  but  he  had  great  influence  over  the  counsels  of  the 
young  king  of  France,  who  was,  just  at  this  time,  in  Amiens, 
celebrating  his  marriage.  There  the  news  reached  him ;  and 
a  representation  from  the  duke,  that  the  Gantese,  if  they  got 
possession  of  Sluys  also,  might  probably  put  the  English  in 
possession  of  it  for  the  sake  of  ruining  the  trade  of  Bruges, 
induced  him  to  declare  that  he  would  never  see  Paris  again 
till  he  had  laid  siege  to  Damme.  His  orders  were  forthwith 
sent  through  all  the  land  :  "  men  of  war  came  to  him  from 
all  parts :"  the  place  had  been  taken  on  the  17th  of  July, 
and  on  the  1st  of  August  he  was  before  it  with  army  of 
80,000  men,  and  these,  ere  long,  were  joined  by  20,000  Fle- 
mings. "  So  they  laid  a  goodly  siege  about  Damme ;  and 
the  king  lay  so  near  to  it  that  the  gunshot  passed  over  his 
head" — for  at  this  siege  cannon  certainly  were  used.  Frans 
Ackerman  "  bore  himself  valiantly,"  in  a  manner  answer- 
able to  his  reputation :  every  day  there  was  either  skirmish 
or  assault,  unless  it  were  a  truce.  The  Bruges  men  drained 
the  foss ;  their  post  was  on  the  north  of  the  town.  The 
French  blocked  up  the  canal,  so  that  no  succours  could  reach 
the  besieged  from  the  sea,  and  they  broke  the  water-courses, 
by  which  the  place  was  supplied  with  fresh  water  from  Male, 
so  that  the  townsmen  had  none  to  drink  but  what  was  either 
stagnant  or  brackish.  The  heat  of  the  weather  rendered  this 
worse ;  and  from  this  cause  the  besieged  suffered  greatly, 
and  from  the  fatigue  which  they  endured  in  repairing  by 
night  the  damage  done  to  the  walls  by  the  French  artillery 
by  day.* 

Guillaume,  the  heir  of  Hainault,  served  at  this  siege,  and 
was  knighted  by  the  kin^of  France,  before  one  of  the  as- 
saults. "  That  day,"  says  Froissart,  "  he  reared  up  his  ban- 
ner, and  quitted  himself  like  a  good  knight ;  but  at  that 
assault  the  Frenchmen  lost  more  than  they  won,  for  the  arch- 
ers of  England,  who  were  with  Frans  Ackerman,  greatly 
grieved  the  assailants ;  and  also  he  had  great  plenty  of  artil- 
lery, for  when  the  town  was  won  it  was  well  furnished,  and 
he  had  caused  much  to  be  brought  from  Ghent,  when  he  knew 
that  sieore  would  be  laid  to  it."f  He  looked  for  aid  from 
England;  and  if  there  had  been  that  vigour  in  the  govern- 

*  Froissart,  ii.  168.    Sueyro,  ii.  9. 

t  "  Surely,"  says  Froissart,  "  the  king  of  England's  uncles  had  come  over 
the  sea  sufficiently  garnished  with  men  of  war  and  artillery  to  raise  the  siege, 
but  that  they  were  let  because  of  the  admiral's  being  in  Scotland  ;  and  also 
it  was  said  that  the  constable  of  France  should  come  into  Scotland  with  a 
great  power  for  to  make  war  into  England,  whereby  the  Gantese  were  not 
rescued  ;  wherefore  it  behoved  them  within  the  town  of  Damme  to  make  an 
evil  bargain."— ii.  166. 

Vol.  I.  2  C 


302  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

ment  which  always  excites  a  correspondent  spirit  in  the  na- 
tion, aid  would  not  have  been  withheld  on  so  momentous  an 
occasion.  Almost  every  day  there  was  an  assault,  and  skir- 
mishing at  the  gates  and  barriers.  "  The  Frenchmen  could 
not  well  come  to  the  walls,  because  the  ditches  were  full  of 
mire  ;  for  if  it  had  been  rainy  weather,  the  host  should  have 
had  much  ado,  and  should  have  been  fain  to  have  dislodged, 
whether  they  would  or  not ;  but  for  the  space  of  a  month 
that  the  siege  endured,  it  never  rained,  and  they  had  victual 
enough.  Howbeit,  because  of  the  evil  air,  and  the  stinking 
of  dead  beasts  and  horses,  the  air  was  so  corrupt,  that  divers 
knights  and  squires  were  thereby  sore  sick,  so  that  divers 
went  to  refresh  them  at  Bruges,  and  other  places,  to  forsake 
the  evil  air.  The  king  himself  went  and  lay  at  Maries ; 
howbeit  his  tents  were  still  pight  up  in  the  field."* 

Ackerman  still  thought  to  hold  out  till  succours  from  Eng- 
land should  come  and  raise  the  siege.  But,  instead  of  an 
English  armament,  there  lay  a  French  fleet  in  the  harbour  of 
Sluys,  laden  with  provisions  for  the  enemy.  He  had,  how- 
ever, another  and  nearer  hope.  There  were  few  places  in 
Flanders  which  were  not  divided  by  factions  :  some  of  the 
principal  persons  in  Sluys  were  of  the  popular  party ;  they 
were  in  correspondence  with  Ghent,  and  had  engaged  to  set 
fire  to  the  ships,  and,  on  the  same  night,  to  cut  the  dikes, 
which  would  have  inundated  the  greater  part  of  the  French 
camp ;  but  the  design  was  discovered,  and  all  the  persons 
concerned  in  it  were  immediately  put  to  death.  Ackerman 
then  lost  all  hope  :  his  artillery  also  began  to  fail  ;  and, 
"  lest  the  townsmen,"  he  said,  "  should  make  a  shrewd  mer- 
chandise, and  deliver  him  and  his  men  to  the  enemy,"  he 
placed  the  women  and  helpless  people  in  the  churches,  under 
pretext  that  an  assault  was  expected  on  the  morrow  ;  then, 
sallying  as  if  to  beat  up  the  enemy's  quarters  in  the  night,  he 
and  his  people  effected  their  escape  to  Ghent.  When  the 
men  of  Damme  knew  that  they  were  forsaken,  they  that  could 
fled  out  of  the  town  ;  and,  in  the  pursuit  that  presently  fol- 
lowed, some  500  of  them  were  slaughtered.  Meantime  the 
town  was  entered  without  opposition.  The  French  thought  to 
have  taken  great  riches  there — "  they  found  nothing  but  poor 
people,  men,  women,  and  children,  and  great  plenty  of  good 
wine  ;  and  so,  for  despite  and  displeasure,  they  set  fire  to  the 
town,  so  that  it  was  wellnigh  all  burnt.  The  king  and  the 
duke  of  Burgundy  were  sore  displeased,  but  they  could  not 
amend  it  ;  howbeit,  with  much  pain,  the  ladies  and  gentle- 

*  Froissart,  ii.  165. 


JEAN  DK  VIENNE.  303 

rnen  were  saved  from  hurt,"  The  French  then  turned  their 
vengeance  upon  the  tract  of  country  called  the  Vicr  Ambach- 
ten,  or  four  bailiwicks,  and  laid  it  waste,  putting  to  death, 
with  execrable  torments,  those  who  fell  into  their  hands,  and 
destroying  every  thing  that  could  be  destroyed.* 

The  French  fleet  suffered  greatly  when  it  departed  from 
Sluys.  Eleven  sail  were  wrecked  on  the  coast  near  Calais ; 
and  500  men  who  escaped  from  the  wreck  were  made  pri- 
soners. The  ships  from  Calais  encountered  seventy-two  of 
the  enemy's  navy  ;  and  "  behaved  themselves  so  manfully," 
that  they  took  eighteen  of  them,  "  besides  a  great  bark,  in 
which  threescore  armed  men  were  slain  before  it  could  be 
taken."  Three  days  afterwards,  they  attacked  a  detachment 
of  forty-five  others,  and  "  after  a  six  hours'  fight  obtained  the 
victory,  taking  three  of  the  most  powerful  vessels ;  whereof 
one,  being  a  hulk  of  Eastland,  had  been  hired  by  the  Nor- 
mans to  guard  the  residue.  The  other  two  were  of  such 
mould,  that  they  could  not  enter  into  the  haven  at  Calais ; 
and,  therefore,  were  sent  to  Sandwich.  One  of  these  was 
a  new  ship,  which  the  constable  Olivier  de  Clisson,  the 
butcher,  had  bought  at  Sluys ;  and  which  was  so  tall,  big, 
and  large  a  vessel,  that  it  is  said  to  have  been  valued  at 
20,000  florins. "f  The  French  suffered  also  great  loss  by 
shipwreck.  But  their  admiral,  Jean  de  Vienne  had  returned 
from  Scotland,  with  a  poor  opinion  both  of  his  Scotch  friends 
and  his  English  enemies;  and  he  encouraged  the  young 
king,  then  flushed  with  his  success  at  Damme,  to  think  of 
invading  and  conquering  England.  "He  had  rather,"  he 
said,  "  be  count  of  Savoy,  or  of  Artois,  than  king  of  Scots ; 
and  for  England,  he  had  seen  its  whole  force  brought  into 
the  field,  wnich  he  estimated  at  60,000  archers,  and  6000  or 
7000  men-at-arms :  the  Scotch  had  assured  him,  that  was  all 
the  power  of  England,  and  that  there  was  'none  abiding 
behind.' "  The  king  and  his  council  replied,  that  such  a 
force  was  a  great  thing;  and  Olivier  de  Clisson  observed, 
"they  might  well  be  as  many  as  that;  but  yet,"  he  added, 
"  I  would  rather  fight  with  them  at  home  in  their  own 
marches,  than  with  half  the  number  here  ;  and  so  I 
heard  my  master  say  oftentimes  when  I  was  young." — "  By 

*  After  speaking  of  the  atrocious  cruellies  which  they  inflicted  upon  men 
and  women,  "  entre  los  incendios  y  ruinas  de  sus  casas,"  Sueyro  adds,  "  los 
temploB  y  otros  editicios,  los  arboles  y  frutor  sintieron,  si  se  halla  sentimien- 
to  en  plantas  y  piedras,  la  violencia  conque  lo  dexaron  conio  dcsierto  todo, 
taasta  las  pueriasde  Gante." 

t  Holinshed,  who  states  this  on  Kniehton's  authority,  says  that  the  con- 
itable  gave  3000  francs  for  it :  if  there  De  a  zero  too  much  in  the  one  state- 
ment, or  too  little  in  the  other,  the  difference  might  be  intelligible. 


304  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

my  faith,"  quoth  the  admiral,  "  if  you  had  been  there  with 
a  great  number  of  men,  as  I  supposed  you  would  have  been, 
I  think  we  had  famished  all  Scotland !"  The  discourse 
ended  in  possessing  the  duke  of  Burgundy  with  a  strong 
desire  of  invading  England ;  and  a  determination  of  moving 
the  French  king  to  such  an  attempt.*  He  had  little  difficulty 
in  this;  "for,"  says  Holinshed,  "the  Frenchmen  never 
showed  more  vanity  than  they  did  this  year,  since  the  lineage 
of  the  Capets  began  first  to  rule  in  France." 

The  way  was  prepared  for  this  by  making  terms  with 
Ackerman  and  the  other  heads  of  the  popular  party,  thus 
terminating  one  of  the  most  destructive  wars  in  the  middle 
ages ;  "  which,  during  the  last  seven  years  of  its  con- 
tinuance, had  cost  the  lives  of  more  than  200,000  men." 
The  duke's  next  object  was  to  obstruct  that  easy  communi- 
cation between  Ghent  and  England,  from  which  this  fonni- 
dable  party  might  otherwise,  upon  any  future  occasion,  have 
again  derived  confidence  and  support;  and  this  could  only 
be  done  by  fortifying  Sluys.  The  place  belonged,  not  to  the 
duke,  but  to  his  kinsman  Guillaume,  eldest  son  of  the  count 
of  Namur;  who,  upon  the  first  proposal  of  an  exchange, 
was  marvellously  displeased  ;  "  for  the  town  of  Sluys,"  says 
Froissart,  "  with  the  appendants  and  profits  of  the  sea,  was 
a  fair  and  profitable  heritage,  and  it  was  fallen  to  him  by  his 
ancestors,  wherefore  he  loved  it  the  better :"  however,  he 
was  so  sore  desired  by  the  duke,  and  his  council,  that  there 
was  no  remedy,  and  he  was  fain  to  exchangef  it  for  the 
leinds  of  Bethune,  "  which  is  a  fair  and  a  great  heritage." 
The  duke  immediately  began  to  erect  a  fortress  there,  which 
he  called  the  castle  of  Burgundy ;  his  intention  being  "  to 
subdue  all  comers  and  goers,  entering  into  the  haven  of 
Sluys,  and  to  keep  it  with  men  of  war ;  so  that  none  should 
enter  by  the  sea  into  those  marches  without  their  danger :" 
and  to  make  a  tower  so  high  "  as  to  command  sight  of  the 
sea  for  twenty  leagues'  distance. ":J;  For  its  further  security, 
the  king  of  France  also,  at  the  duke's  suggestion,  erected 
another  castle,  to  be  garrisoned  by  Frenchnten ;  not  that  it 
was  the  duke's  intention  to  give  the  French  this  hold  upon 
Flanders :  his  policy  was  to  inflict  what  injury  he  could 
upon  England  by  an  invasion,  as  a  sure  means  of  confirming 

*  Froissart,  iii.  17. 

t  P-  Daniel,  with  that  cool  reliance  which  certain  historians  place  upon 
the  ignorance  or  the  indolence  of  their  readers,  asserts  that  Charles  VL 
made  a  present  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy  of  this  place ;  "  le  meilleur  port 
que  le  France  eut  alors  sur  l'oc6an,"  as  if  it  had  ever  belonged  to  France. 
V.  332. 

t  Froissart,  iii.  7.    Sueyro,  ii.  14. 


THE  FRENCH  ARMADA.  305 

his  own  authority  at  home ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  en- 
gage France  in  designs  which  might  give  her  full  employ- 
ment, on  which  he  depended  more  for  his  own  safety  than 
on  consanguinity  or  treaties. 

Among  the  persons  whose  advice  had  most  weight  in  de- 
termining the  king  to  so  great  an  undertaking  as  the  inva- 
sion of  England,  were  the  admiral  and  Clisson  the  butcher. 
In  the  former  it  was  the  project  of  a  brave  and  enterprising 
enemy  ;  and  the  latter  was  not  a  man  to  feel  that,  by  the 
asylum  which  he  had  found  in  England  after  his  father  had 
been  put  to  death,  and  by  the  education  which  he  had  then 
received  there,  he  had  contracted  a  moral  relationship  to- 
wards that  country,  which  made  it  a  sin  for  him  to  bear  arms 
against  it  in  any  other  cause  than  in  defence  of  his  native 
land.  The  count  de  St.  Pol,  also,  heartily  encouraged  the 
design,  though  he  had  married  a  sister  of  the  English  king. 
But  the  duke  was  the  chief  mover  in  this  weighty  business. 
In  addition  to  the  obvious  incitements  of  taking  vengeance 
for  so  many  calamities  as  the  English  had  brought  upon 
France,  and  of  showing  the  superiority  of  that  kingdom  in 
men  and  means,  they  urged  the  politic  consideration  that 
great  part  of  the  strength  of  England  was  at  this  time  absent, 
engaged,  under  John  of  Gaunt,  in  an  expedition  to  Castile : 
England  would,  therefore,  be  taken,  if  not  unprovided,  yet 
without  its  best  soldiers  and  its  most  experienced  command- 
ers :  it  was  for  the  interest  of  P'rance  to  effect  this  powerful 
diversion  in  favour  of  its  ally,  the  king  of  Castile ;  and  for 
her  honour,  also,  thus  to  return  the  service  which  the  Spa- 
niards had  rendered  her  in  the  destruction  of  the  English  fleet 
off  Rochelle.*  If  farther  encouragement  were  required,  it 
was  to  be  found  in  the  dissension  that  prevailed  among  the 
king  of  England's  counsellors,  and  in  the  evils  which  had 
been  brought  upon  that  eountry  by  the  late  popular  rebellion. 
A  young  king,  whose  enterprises  had  hitherto  always  been 
successful,  was  easily  persuaded  by  such  representations ; 
and  "  the  lords,  and  the  most  part  of  the  chivalry  of  France, 
said,  why  should  not  we  for  once  go  to  England  to  see  the 
country  and  the  people,  and  to  learn  the  way  there,  as  they 
have  learnt  it  in  France  V 

Accordingly,  preparations  were  made  upon  the  most   .  oq^ 
extensive   scale  ;  and,  while  the  public  feeling  was 
under  the  excitement  of  eager  expectation  and  hope,  "  taxes 
and  tallages,  such  as  had  not  been  imposed  in  France  for  100 
years  before,  were  set  and  assized  in  the  cities  and  good 

*  Sueyro,  ii.  17. 

Sc3 


306  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

towns,  and  in  the  plain  country  :  they  that  were  rich  were 
taxed  and  rated  to  the  third  and  fourth  part  of  their  goods  for 
the  aid  of  this  voyage ;  and  many  people  paid  more  than 
they  were  worth  beside  to  make  up  the  payment  for  men  of 
war." — "  All  manner  of  ships  that  could  do  any  service," 
says  the  contemporary  chronicler,  "were  sent  for  to  Holland, 
Zeeland,  Middleburgh,  Zierikzee,*  Dordrecht,  Schoenhoven, 
Leyden,  Harlaam,f  Delft,  the  Brille,  and  all  other  towns 
upon  the  sea-coast,  and  upon  the  rivers  entering  into  the  sea; 
and  all  were  brought  to  Sluys.  From  Spain,  and  the  port  of 
Seville,  to  Pruce  (as  Prussia  was  then  called),  there  was  no 
great  ship  on  the  sea  that  the  French  could  lay  their  hands 
on,  but  was  retained  for  the  king  of  France  and  his  people." 
But  the  Hollanders  and  the  Zeelanders  said  to  those  who 
retained  them,  "  If  you  would  have  our  services,  you  must 
pay  us  outright,  or  we  will  not  go :  so  thej'  were  paid," 
says  Froissart,  "  before  the)^  would  leave  their  havens  or 
their  houses,  and  in  this  they  were  wise." — "  I  trow,"  he 
continues,  "  that  since  God  created  the  world,  there  were 
never  seen  so  many  great  ships  together  as  were  that  year  at 
Sluys  and  at  Blankenburg  ;  for  in  the  month  of  September 
there  were  numbered  1287  ships  at  Sluys  :  their  masts 
seemed,  in  the  sea,  like  a  great  wood."  The  report  in 
France  was,  that  vessels  enough  for  bridging:J;  the  channel 
were  assembled.  At  Sluys  it  was  the  king's  intention  to 
take  sea,  and  so  to  enter  into  England,  and  destroy  that 
country.  And  till  the  month  of  September  they  did  nothing 
else  but  grind  corn  and  bake  biscuit  on  the  sea-coast,  and  at 
Toumay,  Lisle,  Douay,  Arras,  Amiens,  Bethune,  St.  Omers, 
and  in  all  the  towns  about  Sluys.  No  other  such  great  en- 
terprise was  projected  against  England  from  the  time  of  the 
Norman  conquest  until  that  of  the  Spanish  armada;  and  the 
full  and  lively  account  of  the  stir  of  preparation  cannot,  even 
at  this  day,  be  perused  without  interest.  "  It  was  a  won- 
der," says  Froissart,  "  to  consider  from  whence  all  such 
provision  came,  what  by  land  and  sea,  into  Flanders.  Whoso 
had  been  that  season  at  Bruges,  at  Damme,  or  at  Sluys,  and 
seen  the  business  there  in  charging  of  ships  with  hay,  sack- 
ing of  biscuit,  and  lading  in  of  onions,  pease,  beans,  barley, 
candles,  hose,  shoes,  spurs,  knives,  daggers,  battle-axes, 
axes  to  hew  withal,  mattocks,  nails,  beds,  couches,  horse- 

*  Zerecbielin  the  original,  which,  in  the  modern  edition  of  lord  Berners' 
translation,  is  conjectured  to  be  Overyssel ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Zierikzee  is  meant. 

t  So  I  venture  to  write  for  Herpen. 

1  Juvenal  des  Ursins,  quoted  by  P,  Daniel. 


THE  FRENCH  ARMADA.    '  307 

shoes,  pots,  pans,  candlesticks,  and  all  manner  of  necessaries 
for  kitchen,  buttery,  and  all  other  offices  and  of  every  thing 
that  could  be  thought  of,  necessary  to  serve  man  and  horse, 
for  all  was  had  into  ships  in  one  thing  or  another ; — whoso- 
ever had  seen  it,  if  he  had  been  sick,  1  think  he  would  clean 
have  forgotten  all  pain.  The  companions  of  France  reckoned 
none  otherwise  among  themselves,  when  they  spake  together, 
but  that  the  realm  of  England  should  have  been  utterly 
lost  without  recovery ;  and  all  the  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren therein  slain,  or  taken,  and  carried  into  captivity  in 
France." 

But  it  was  not  the  French  and  their  Flemish  allies  alone 
who  exulted  in  such  expectations.  Men  of  prey — for  that 
designation  ought  not  to  be  confined  to  beasts  and  birds — 
were  attracted  from  far  and  near.  "  Lords,  knights, 
esquires,  and  men  of  war  were  invited  to  come  and  serve 
the  king  of  France  in  this  journey,  out  of  Savoy,  Germany, 
and  from  the  going  down  of  the  sun  to  the  land  of  the  earl 
of  Armagnac ;  and  these  lords,  though  they  were  of  far  coun- 
tries, and  knew  not  what  end  this  war  should  come  to,  yet 
they  came,  and  made  their  provisions  so  great  and  costly, 
that  it  was  great  marvel  to  think  thereof." — "  Such  prepa- 
ration as  was  made  was  not  had  in  remembrance  of  man, 
nor  in  writing ;  never  none  like  seen,"  says  the  great  chro- 
nicler, "  nor  heard  of.  Gold  and  silver  was  no  more  spared 
than  though  it  had  rained  out  of  the  clouds,  or  scummed 
out  of  the  sea.*  The  great  lords  of  France  sent  their  ser- 
vants to  Sluys,  to  apparel  and  make  ready  their  provisions 
and  ships.  The  king  himself,  young  as  he  was,  had  more 
will  than  any  other  to  this  journey,  and  that  he  always  show- 
ed to  the  end  thereof.  Every  man  helped  to  make  provision 
for  other,  and  to  garnish  their  ships,  and  to  paint  them  with 
their  arms.  Painters  had  then  a  good  season,  for  they  had 
whatsoever  they  demanded,  and  yet  there  could  not  enough 
of  them  be  got  for  money.  They  made  banners,  pennons, 
standards  of  silk,  so  goodly,  that  it  was  a  marvel  to  behold 
them  ;  also  they  painted  the  masts  of  their  ships  from  the 
one  end  to  the  other,  glittering  with  gold,  and  devices,  and 
arms."f  The  paintings  of  the  lord  Guy  de  Tremouille's  ship 
cost  more  than  2000  francs.     Then  comes  the  woful  truth, 

*  "  ftue  B'il  plust  des  nues,  on  qu'on  le  puisast  en  la  met."  Lord  Beruers 
has  here  a  livelier  expression  than  that  iu  the  original. 

•f  "The  French,"  says  Sueyro,  "vied  with  each  other,  asif  they  had  heen 
going  to  a  certain  victory,  or  to  a  wedding,  in  such  wise  did  they  adorn  and 
gild  their  ships:  pero  toda  esta  fiesta  se  hazia  sin  tener  cuenta  con  Dio», 
que  se  reia  desde  el  cielo  dc  las  maauinas  huinanas." 


308  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

that  "  the  poor  people  of  the  realm  paid  for  all ;  for  the  tal 
lages  were  then  so  great  to  furnish  this  voyage,  that  the  rich- 
est sorrowed  for  it,  and  the  poor  fled  for  it."  The  force  to 
be  embarked  here  consisted  of  60,000  men,  of  whom  20,000 
were  men-of-arms,  20,000  arbalisters,  and  20,000  "  other 
men  of  war."  But  preparations  were  carried  on  in  the  ports 
of  Bretagne  also,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  constable 
Olivier  de  Clisson  ;  and  there,  either  at  his  suggestion,  or  at 
the  admiral's  (for  it  is  imputed  to  both),  a  portable  intrench- 
ment  was  made,  upon  a  huge  scale,  for  securing  the  troops 
immediately  upon  their  landing.  This,  which  was  likened 
to  the  enclosure  of  a  town,  or  wall  of  wood,  is  described  as 
being  of  twenty  feet  in  height,  and  containing  in  length,  or 
in  compass,  when  it  was  set  up,  3000  paces ;  and  at  every 
twelve  paces  was  a  turret,  large  enough  to  receive  ten  men, 
and  ten  feet  higher  than  the  rest  of  the  wall.  The  whole  was 
so  constructed  that  it  might  be  taken  in  pieces,  and  moved 
with  the  army ;  and  "  a  great  number  of  carpenters  and  others 
were  engaged  in  wages  to  attend  thereon."*  The  materials 
for  all  this  were  in  such  abundance  that,  one  writer  says,  it 
seemed  as  if  whole  woods  had  been  brought  together  for  it. 
The  camp,  in  fact,  was  to  have  had  the  form,  and  regularity, 
and  security  of  a  town  within  this  fortification,  which  com- 
prised towers,  bastions,  and  bulwarks,  and  other  defences  of 
that  age.j  And  the  enemy  did  not  seem  to  feel,  when  their 
means  and  their  ingenuity  were  so  ostentatiously  displayed 
in  this  remarkable  device,  that  such  anxious  and  costly  pre- 
parations for  defence,  on  the  part  of  an  invading  army,  were 
little  in  accord  with  that  hopeful  and  adventurous  spirit  by 
which  alone  success  could  be  obtained. 

Had  there  been  a  prince  like  Edward  III.  upon  the  throne, 
or  his  peerless  son,  the  flower  of  the  Plantagenets,  the  French 
armament  would  have  been  attacked  in  the  harbour,  and  a 
second  battle  of  Sluys  would  have  been  recorded  among  our 
naval  victories  :  but  with  a  young  and  dissolute  king,  whose 
good  qualities  were  corrupted  by  his  station,  and  his  evil 
ones  inflamed  by  ill  companions, — with  discontented  nobles, 


•*  Holinshed,  ii.  772.    Froissart,  iii.  49. 

t  Sueyro,  ii.  17.  P.  Daniel  departs  widely  from  the  contemporary  writers 
in  representing  these  wooden  fortifications  as  a  wooden  town.  He  says 
"  On  chargea  un  grand  nombre  de  ces  navires  de  quantitfe  de  bois  de  char- 
pente,  qu"il  n'y  avoit  plus  qu'a  assembler,  pour  en  faire  des  maisons,  oil  Ton 
pititendoit  loger  des  soldats  apres  la  descente,  en  attendant  qu'on  se  fiit 
rendu  inaitre  de  quelque  bonne  villed'Angleterre;  etrien  nefutplus  fameu.t 
Blors  que  la  ville  de  bois  qu'on  avoit  fait  a  I'tclus,  pour  la  transporter  en 
Angleterre."  (v.  331 )  I  know  not  whether  more  want  of  tidelity,  or  of  con- 
sideration, is  shown  in  this  passage. 


THE  FRENCH  ARMADA.  309 

some  of  whom,  perhaps,  had  already  conceived  those  trea- 
sonable designs  which  brought  upon  their  country  so  many 
years  of  misery  and  civil  war  ; — and,  with  a  people  oppress-  ^ 
ed  by  imposts,  and  who  had  neither  confidence  in  their  rulers,  ' 
nor  respect  for  their  masters,  "  it  was  no  marvel,"  says  Fro- 
issart,  "  that  this  great  apparel  somewhat,  at  the  beginning, 
abashed  the  Englishmen."  There  was,  however,  some 
doubt,  notwithstanding  the  loud  boast  of  the  French,  that 
they  were  about  to  take  vengeance  upon  England  for  all  former 
wars,  whether  these  preparations  were  not  intended  against 
Calais;  "for  the  English  knew  well  that,  of  all  the  towns 
in  the  world,  this  was  the  one  which  the  French  most  de- 
sired to  have.  Great  provision,  therefore,  was  sent  thither 
of  grain,  salt,  flesh,  fish,  wine,  beer,  and  other  things,"  and 
several  of  the  most  experienced  captains,  with  500  men-of- 
arms,  and  500  archers ;  and  the  earl  of  Arundel  and  sir  Henry 
Spencer  were  ordered  to  keep  the  sea  with  forty  great  ships, 
"  well  decked,  and  having  on  board  300  men-of-arms,  and 
twice  that  number  of  archers.  The  king's  uncles,  earls  of 
Cambridge  and  Buckingham,  afterwards  dukes  of  York  and 
Gloucester,  would  fain  have  recalled  their  brother  John  of 
Gaunt  from  his  Castilian  expedition  to  the  defence  of  his 
own  country ;  but  his  schemes  of  ambition  were  with  him 
paramount  to  every  other  consideration,  and  they  and  the 
French  were  equally  disappointed  by  his  persevering  in  his 
expedition.  Richard  was  then  in  the  marches  of  Wales, 
with  those  favourites  by  whose  advice  he  was  governed.  But 
when  "  the  lords,  and  the  prelates,  and  the  people  of  the 
good  towns  and  cities,  and  commons  of  the  realm,  Avere 
fully  and  credibly  informed,  how  the  French  king  was  ready 
to  come  into  England  to  destroy  it,"  they  then  drew  together 
to  counsel ;  and  the  king  was  written  to  by  his  uncles,  that  he 
should  come  to  London,  for  the  people  were  "  not  content 
with  him  nor  his  advisers."  He  listened,  on  this  occasion, 
to  their  representations,  seeing  that  there  was  indeed  a  great 
and  imminent  danger.  A  council  was  held  on  his  arrival, 
and  the  earl  of  Salisbury,  who  was  "  a  right  valiant  and  pru- 
dent knight,"  addressed  them  in  a  speech  which  was  well 
received.  "  It  is  no  wonder,"  he  said,  "  if  our  enemy  the 
French  king  intends  to  come  against  us ;  for  since  the  death 
of  the  last  king  F^dward  of  noble  memory,  this  kingdom  hath 
been  in  great  adventure  to  have  been  destroyed  by  the  vil- 
lains ;  and  it  is  also  well  known  in  France  how  we  be  not 
all  of  one  accord  ;  and  thence  cometh  the  present  trouble, 
which  is  not  light :  for  he  is  but  a  fool  that  feareth  not  his 
enemy.   As  long  as  the  kingdom  of  England  was  in  unity, — ■ 


310  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  king  with  his  people,  and  they  with  him, — we  pros- 
pered, and  reigned  victoriously,  and  none  was  found  to  do 
us  any  great  wrong.  Wherefore  it  is  now  needful,  and 
never  before  was  so  great  need,  that  we  bring  ourselves 
again  into  love  and  unity,  if  we  think  to  come  to  any  honour. 
This  kingdom  hath  been  a  long  time  in  flower ;  and  ye  know 
that  that  which  is  in  flower  hath  more  need  to  be  well  kept 
than  when  it  is  turned  to  perfect  fruit.  For  the  last  sixty  years, 
the  knights  and  squires  who  have  gone  forth  from  hence  have 
been  more  honoured  for  all  feats  of  arms  than  any  others  of 
any  nation  whatsoever.  Let  us  then  take  especial  care,  that 
as  long  as  we  live,  we  may  keep  this  honour." 

His  words  were  addressed  to  willing  ears ;  there  was  no 
want  of  spirit  in  the  king  or  in  the  people.  The  first  object 
was  to  guard  the  coast.  Salisbury  himself,  "  because  part 
of  his  land  bordered  near  upon  the  Isle  of  Wight,  was  set 
there  with  his  men  and  the  archers  of  that  country.  The  earl 
of  Devonshire  was  stationed  at  Southampton,  with  200  men- 
of-arms  and  600  archers,  to  keep  the  haven  ;  the  earl  of  Cam- 
bridge at  Dover,  with  500  men-of-arms  and  1200  archers ; 
the  earl  of  Buckingham  at  Sandwich,  with  as  many  more ; 
the  earls  of  Staffbrd  and  Pembroke  at  Orwell  haven,  with  the 
same  number ;  sir  Henry  Percy  at  Yarmouth,  with  600  arch- 
ers and  300  men-of-arms.  All  the  havens  and  ports,  from  the 
Humber  to  the  Land's  End,  in  Cornwall,  were  defended  with 
men-of-arms  and  archers ;  and  on  the  heights  along  the  sea- 
coast,  opposite  Flanders  and  France,  "  watchmen  and  watch- 
ers," says  Froissart,  "  were  set  in  diverse  manners,  I  will 
tell  you  how : — Gascony  pipes,  emptied  of  wine  and  filled 
with  sand,  were  piled  in  columns  one  upon  another ;  and  on 
the  top  of  these  pipes  were  platforms,  upon  which  men  sat 
night  and  day,  keeping  watch  and  looking  toward  the  sea. 
Their  orders  were,  if  they  saw  the  French  fleet  approach,  to 
light  torches  there,  that  beacon-fires  might  incontinently  be 
kindled  along  all  the  heights,  to  raise  the  country.  The  in- 
tended plan  of  operations  was,  that  the  enemy  should  be 
allowed  to  land  without  opposition,  and  march  into  the  coun- 
try some  three  or  four  days'  journey;  that  the  English  were 
then  to  gather  towards  the  point  where  they  had  landed,  and 
to  attack  and  destroy  the  ships  if  they  could,  intercept  their 
supplies,  and  then  follow  the  French, — not  at  once  to  give 
them  battle,  but  to  harass  them  and  keep  them  waking,  and 
prevent  them  from  foraging,  and  cut  off  all  that  were  abroad 
in  the  country,  and  thereby  famish  them." 

The  French  admiral  had  strangely  deceived  himself  con- 
cerning the  inilitary  strength  of  England.    Notwithstanding 


THE  FRENCH  ARMADA.  311 

the  force  which  John  of  Gaunt  had  led  abroad,  there  were, 
at  this  time,  10,000  men-of-arms,  and  ten  times  that  num- 
ber of  archers,  arrayed  for  the  defence  of  the  country.  "  And 
whereas  taxes  and  tallages  were  great  in  France  on  the  men 
of  the  towns,  in  like  manner  they  were  great  that  season  in 
England,  so  that  the  realm  sorrowed  it  a  great  season  after; 
but  now  they  were  glad  to  pay  the  soldiers,  to  be  by  them 
defended  :  '  It  is  not  against  reason,'  they  said,  '  that  we  are 
taxed  now,  to  give  of  our  goods  to  knights  and  squires,  tha* 
they  may  defend  their  heritages  and  ours.'  "  At  the  instance 
of  the  Londoners,  Rochester  Bridge  was  broken.  That  reli- 
gious feeling  which  induced  Edward  to  require  the  prayers  of 
his  people  when  he  led  his  armies  into  France  was  now 
manifested  with  more  unquestionable  fitness.  Processions 
were  made  thrice  a  week  in  every  good  town  and  city,  with 
great  devotion  of  heart,  and  "  with  prayers  and  orisons  to 
God,  to  deliver  them  from  this  peril.  And  yet,"  says  Frois- 
sart,  "there  were  100,000  in  England  who  heartily  desired 
that  the  enemy  might  land  :  such  light  companions,  in  com- 
forting themselves  and  them  that  were  abashed,  would  say, 
'  Let  these  Frenchmen  come !  not  a  cuUion  of  them  shall 
return  again  to  France !' "  This  was  the  language  of  those 
who  were  arrayed  for  the  service  of  their  country, — of  brave 
but  not  boastful  men,  who  had  heard  from  their  fathers  the 
noble  deeds  which,  in  their  days,  had  been  done  at  Cressy  and 
at  Poictiers.  But  the  excellent  chronicler*  tells  us  also, 
that  "  such  persons  as  were  in  debt,  and  had  no  thoughts  oi 
no  means  of  payment,  rejoiced  at  the  intended  invasion,  and 
would  say  to  their  creditors  who  pressed  them,  *  Be  easy  : 
they  are  coining,  in  France,  new  florins,  wherewith  you  shall 
be  paid  !'  Upon  the  strength  of  this,  they  lived  and  spen« 
largely,  credit  not  being  refused  them ;  for  if  there  were  any 
demur,  they  used  to  say,  '  What  would  you  have  1  Is  it  not 
better  that  we  should  spend  freely  the  goods  of  this  land, 
than  that  they  should  be  kept  for  the  French  to  find  and  take 
them ■?'  By  such  means,"  he  says,  "there  was  spent  in  out- 
rage in  England  to  the  amount  of  1000/.  sterling."f  The 
great  lords  and  the  people  of  the  good  towns,  who  had  much 
to  lose,  apprehended  the  danger,  and  "  were  in  great  doubt ; 
but  the  commons  and  poor  companions  cared  nothing,  neither 
did  poor  knights  and  squires :  they  wished  for  the  invasion, 
either  to  win  or  lose  all.     '  God,'  they  said,  '  hath  sent  a 

*  Excellent,  Froissart  may  well  be  called.  I  should  have  called  him  in- 
Mmparable,  if  I  had  not  remembered  some  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
chroniclem  :  that  epithet  belongs  to  the  Portuguese  Fernam  Lopez. 

t  Froissart,  iii.  36.   The  sum  is  probably  mistaken. 


312  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

fine  time  for  us,  since  the  king  of  France  will  come  into  this 
kingdom :  there  has  not  been  such  a  king  in  France  for  these 
hundred  years :  he  will  make  good  soldiers  of  his  people." 
Blessed  may  he  be,  since  he  will  come  to  visit  us ;  for 
we  shall  now  either  die  or  be  rich :  it  cannot  be  other- 
wise,' "* 

Meantime  the  preparations  in  Flanders  were  continued 
with  unremitting  activity  during  three  months  ;  "  the  apparel 
of  ships,  galleys,  and  vessels  of  every  kind  collected  there 
for  passing  being  so  great  and  sumptuous  that  the  oldest 
man  then  living  never  saw  nor  heard  of  the  like." — "  Now 
let  us  go  against  these  cursed  Englishmen,  who  have  done  so 
many  evils  and  persecutions  to  France,"  was  the  language  of 
the  French  knights  and  squires,!  when  they  went  to  join  the 
host :  *'  now  shall  we  be  revenged  for  our  fathers,  brothers, 
and  kinsmen,  whom  they  have  discomfited  and  slain  !"  In 
the  middle  of  August,  the  king  of  France,  to  show  his  own 
eagerness  for  the  expedition,  and  to  hasten  the  movements 
of  others,  took  leave  of  his  queen,  heard  mass  in  the  church 
of  N6tre  Dame,  and  declared  that  it  was  his  intention  not 
to  return  to  Paris  till  he  had  been  in  England  :  this  all  the 
cities  and  good  towns  in  France  well  believed,  and  this,  no 
doubt,  he  fully  intended.  The  duke  of  Burgundy  also  took 
leave  of  his  wife  and  children  :  they  met  at  Arras.  "  Daily 
there  came  people  from  all  parts  in  such  great  numbers,  that 
the  land  was  eaten  up.  Nothing  was  left  abroad  in  the 
country,  but  it  was  taken  without  paying  any  thing :  the 
poor  people  who  had  gathered  in  their  corn  had  nothing  left 
them  but  straw :  their  waters  were  fished,  their  houses 
pulled  down  for  fire-wood  ;  and,  if  they  ventured  to  com- 
plain, they  were  beaten  or  killed.  If  the  English  had  arrived 
there,  they  could  not,  nor  would  not,  have  made  such  de- 
struction as  the  French  themselves  did.  'We  have  no 
money  now,'  they  said  ;  '  but  we  shall  have  enough  when 
we  return,  and  then  you  shall  be  paid  in  full.'  But  the 
people,"  says  Froissart,  "when  they  saw  their  goods  thus 
taken,  and  that  they  dared  say  nothing  aloud,  cursed  between 
their  teeth,  and  said,  '  Go  to  England,  or  to  the  devil,  and 
never  return  again !'  "  The  expedition  was  so  far  well 
ordered,  that  care  was  taken  not  to  incumber  it  with  any 
inefiicient  persons.     It  was  the  constable's  intention  that 

*  Froissart,  iii.  14. 

t  "  Leur  ardeur,"  saya  P.  Daniel,  "  lea  mesures  qu'on  avoit  priFes,  la 
consternation  qui  commencoit,  a  ser6pandre  parmi.  les  Anglois,  tout  pro- 
mettoit  an  beureux  succes  de  cette  expedition,  quelque  dangereuse  qu'elle 
parut." 


THE  KING  OF  ARMENIA.  313 

no  man  should  enter  England  unless  he  were  a  chosen  man- 
of-arms ;  and  he  enjoined  the  admiral  not  to  let  the  ships  be 
"  charged  with  varlets  and  boys,  who  would  be  of  more  damage 
than  profit.  This  wise  precaution  was  so  rigorously  ob- 
served, that,  if  two  or  three  knights  hired  ships  at  their  own 
cost,  unless  they  were  great  lords,  they  were  allowed  but  one 
additional  horse  and  one  varlet.  The  preparations,  indeed, 
were  so  complete,  and  the  arrangements  in  all  respects  such, 
that  many  were  of  opinion,  and  Froissart  himself  agreed 
with  them,  that  if  they  could  effect  their  landing,  as  they 
intended,  in  the  Orwell,  "  they  should  sore  abash  the 
country."  That  they  would  effect  a  landing,  indeed,  no 
doubt  was  entertained  in  England,  for  there  was  no  naval 
force  to  prevent  it ;  and  when  the  whole  coast  was  threat- 
ened, it  was  impossible  that  any  part  could  be  guarded  in 
sufficient  strength  against  so  powerful  an  armament.  Sir 
Simon  Burley,  tlie  governor  of  Dover  Castle,  thought  that 
Dover  and  Sandwich  were  the  likeliest  points  of  attack;  and 
he  advised  the  monks  of  Canterbury  to  deposite  Becket's 
shrine  in  his  castle,  which  was  so  strong  a  place,  that  he 
said  it  would  be  in  safety  there  though  all  England  were 
lost.  The  monks,  however,  whether  owing  to  their  trust  in 
Becket,  or  their  distrust  of  Burley,  would  not  consent  to  be 
deprived  of  such  a  treasure :  they  took  his  advice  in  great 
despite:  "  If  ye  be  afraid,"  they  said,  "make  yourself  sure; 
for  though  you  shut  yourself  up  within  the  castle  of  Dover 
for  fear,  yet  the  Frenchmen  will  not  be  so  hardy  as  to  come 
hither."  Angry  words  ensued ;  and  Burley,  by  his  well- 
intended  proposal,  drew  upon  himself  a  degree  of  unpopu- 
larity which  contributed  to  his  destruction.* 

A  singular  personage  at  this  time  took  upon  himself  the 
office  of  mediator  between  the  two  countries :  this  was  king 
Leon  of  Armenia,  who  had  been  driven  from  his  kingdom 
by  the  Turks,  and  was  then  residing  in  France,  where  the 
king  had  assigned  him  a  pension  of  6000  francs.  The  me- 
diation was  voluntary,  but  not  altogether  disinterested.  Ho 
set  out  from  his  residence  at  St.  Audoin,  near  St.  Denis, 
with  only  his  own  company,  and  no  great  apparel ;  took  ship 
at  Boulogne,  and  sailed  for  Dover,  where  he  had  good  cheer, 
because  he  was  a  stranger ;  and  so  he  came  to  the  king's 
uncles  there,  who  received  him  courteously,  as  they  well 
know  how  to  do,  and  at  convenient  season  asked  of  him 
whence  he  came,  and  whither  he  would.  He  replied,  that 
in  hope  of  good  he  was  come  thither  to  see  the  king  of  Eng- 

*  Froissart,  iii.  41. 

Vol.  I.  2D 


314  NAVAL  HISTORY   OF  ENGLAND. 

land  and  his  council,  and  to  treat  for  peace  between  France 
and  England,  the  war  between  them  being-  unmeet :  by 
reason  ot  its  long  endurance,  the  Turks  had  waxed  proud, 
there  being  none  to  wage  war  against  them,  and  by  occasion 
hereof,  said  he,  "  I  have  lost  my  kingdom,  and  am  not  like 
to  recover  it,  unless  there  were  firm  peace  throughout  Chris- 
tendom." This,  as  a  matter  concerning  all  Christian  peo- 
ple, he  wished  to  represent  to  the  king.  He  admitted  that 
he  had  no  commission  from  the  French  king,  but  had  come 
on  his  own -motion.  They  represented  to  him,  that  if  he 
were  conveyed  to  the  royal  council,  according  to  his  desire, 
and  in  the  mean  time  the  French  should  land,  his  person 
might  be  in  great  jeopardy.  To  this  he  made  answer,  that 
he  had  requested  the  French  king  not  to  depart  from  Sluys 
till  he  should  have  seen  the  king  of  England  ;  "  and  I  repute 
him,"  said  he,  "  so  noble  and  so  well  advised,  that  he  will 
grant  my  desire,  and  not  put  to  sea  till  I  come  to  him ;"  he 
pressed  them,  therefore,  either  to  forward  him  to  London,  or 
answer  him  themselves,  if  they  had  authority.  Their  instruc- 
tions, they  replied,  were  to  keep  and  defend  that  passage  and 
the  adjacent  frontier :  farther  authority  they  had  none,  and 
w^ere  not  of  the  king's  council ;  but  to  London  they  forwarded 
him,  under  a  good  escort,  for  fear  of  danger.  The  Londoners 
were  fortifying  the  city  when  he  arrived :  he,  however,  in 
riding  through  was  well  regarded,  because  he  was  a  stranger, 
and  had  good  cheer  made  him,  and  was  brought  before  the 
king.  Four  days  after  the  first  interview  (during  which 
time  Richard  had  communicated  with  his  uncles  to  know 
their  opinion),  the  Armenian  king  was  sent  for  to  the  palace 
at  Westminster,  a  seat  beside  the  king  was  given  him,  and 
there,  before  the  council,  he  declared  his  business.  "  All 
Christendom,"  he  said,  "  was  sore  decayed  and  feeblished 
by  occasion  of  the  wars  between  England  and  France:  the 
knights  and  squires  of  both  countries  were  wholly  engaged 
on  one  side  or  the  other,  who  before  were  wont  to  adventure 
themselves  against  the  misbelievers  :  for  this  cause,  the  em- 
pire of  Constantinople  had  lost  much,  and  was  like  to  lose 
more, — and  he  himself  had  lost  his  kingdom  of  Armenia; 
wherefore  he  desired,  for  God's  sake,"  that  some  treaty  of 
peace  might  be  made  between  these  realms."  The  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  was  the  person  charged  to  answer  him  ; 
and  the  answer  evinced  the  wisdom  and  proper  spirit  of  those 
who  advised  it.  "  Sir,  king  of  Armenia,"  said  the  primate, 
"  it  is  not  the  manner,  nor  hath  it  ever  been,  between  two 
such  enemies  as  the  king  of  Elngland  and  the  king  of  France, 
that  peace  should  be  proposed  to  the  king-  of  England  with 


THE  COMMONS  IMPEACH  SUFFOLK.        315 

an  armed  hand,  in  his  own  country.  We  will  tell  you 
what  may  be  done,  if  it  please  you.  You  may  return  to  the 
French  kin^,  and  cause  him  and  all  his  puissance  to  return 
into  their  own  countries  ;  and  when  every  man  is  at  home 
again,  then,  if  it  please  you,  you  may  return  hither,  and 
we  will  willingly  attend  to  your  treaty."  This  was  all  the 
answer  he  could  obtain  ;  but  he  dined  with  the  king  that 
day,  and  had  "  as  great  honour  as  could  be  devised ;  and 
Richard  offered  him  great  gifts  of  gold  and  silver,  none  of 
which  he  would  take,  "  though  he  had  need  thereof," 
accepting  only,  for  courtesy,  a  ring  of  the  value  of  100 
francs.* 

A  parliament  met  at  Westminster  on  the  1st  of  October, 
and  the  chancellor,  Michael  de  la  Pole,  earl  of  Suffolk,  told 
the  houses  that  the  principal  cause  for  which  they  had  been 
called  together  at  that  time  was  to  acquaint  them  with  the 
resolution  of  the  council,  that  the  king  should  pass  the  seas 
in  person,  with  a  royal  army,  being  moved  thereunto  by 
these  four  causes  : — that  he  might  at  less  expense  attack  the 
enemy  abroad,  than  wait  to  defend  the  country  against  them 
at  home ;  that  he  might  take  off  the  reproach  blazed  abroad 
as  how  he  durst  not  go  over  in  person ;  that  he  might  assert 
his  right  to  the  crown  of  France,  and  thereby  acquire  both 
renown  and  honour;  and,  lastly,  because  the  French  them- 
selves were  daily  threatening  an  invasion.  Richard's  sin- 
cerity is  not  to  be  suspected  in  a  resolution  so  conformable 
to  the  temper  of  a  young  king,  and  the  spirit  of  a  Plantage- 
net;  that  of  liis  council  may:  it  would  have  been  sound 
policy  to  have  sent  a  fleet  against  the  enemy's  ships  at 
Sluys,  if  a  fleet  could  have  been  provided ;  but  to  withdraw 
a  royal  army  from  the  country  when  an  invasion  was,  in 
fact,  daily  to  be  looked  for,  would  have  been  to  leave  Eng- 
land at  the  mercy  of  the  invaders.  The  commons  seem  to 
have  regarded  the  communication  in  this  light ;  and,  instead 
of  taking  it  into  consideration,  they  proceeded  to  impeach 
the  earl  of  Suffolk ;  upon  which  the  king  withdrew  from 
parliament  to  Eltham,  that  he  might  not  seem  to  counte- 
nance that  measure.  Both  houses  then  addressed  a  message 
to  him,  requiring  that  the  chancellor  and  the  treasurer  mignt 
be  removed  from  their  offices,  which  they  occupied  not  to  the 
advantage  of  him  or  his  kingdom  :  he  returned  an  imperious 
answer,  commanding  them  not  to  make  mention  of  any  such 
thing  for  the  future,  but  forthwith  proceed  to  the  business 
for  which  they  were  summoned.     It  has  too  often  been  seen, 

♦  FroiBsart,  iii.  42. 


316  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

in  the  troubled  times  of  history,  that  peers  and  princes  have 
been  active  in  exasperating  differences,  which,  if  they  duly 
understood  their  own  interest  as  well  as  their  duty,  they 
would  diligently  endeavour  to  compose.  The  king's  uncle, 
Gloucester,  and  the  bishop  of  Ely,  were  now  deputed  to  de- 
liver the  sense  of  both  houses  to  him  ;  and  the  duke's  cha- 
racter renders  it  certain  that  he  was  nothing  loath  to  be  so 
deputed.  With  most  humble  submission,  and  wishes  that  he 
might  be  successful  in  the  course  of  honour,  and  invincible 
against  his  enemies,  and  united  to  his  subjects  by  the  most 
firm  bands  of  peace  and  hearty  love,  as  well  as  for  his  own 
advantage  and  the  salvation  of  his  soul  as  for  the  unspeak- 
able comfort  of  the  people  whom  he  governed — they  inti- 
mated, on  behalf  of  that  people,  how  one  old  statute  and 
laudable  custom  was  approved,  which  no  man  could  deny, 
that  the  king,  once  in  the  year,  might  lawfully  summon  his 
high  court  of  parliament,  and  call  the  lords  and  commons 
thereunto,  as  to  the  highest  court  of  his  realm,  in  which 
court  all  right  and  equity  ought  to  shine,  as  the  noon-day 
sun,  whereof  poor  and  rich  may  take  refreshing.  There, 
also,  reformation  ought  to  be  had  of  all  oppressions,  wrongs, 
extortions,  and  enormities  within  the  realm,  and  there  uie 
king  ought  to  take  council  with  the  wise  men  of  his  realm 
for  the  maintenance  of  his  estate,  and  conservation  of  the 
same ;  and  if  it  might  be  known  that  any  person  within  the 
realm  or  without  intended  the  contrary,  there  also  must  be 
devised  how  such  evil  weeds  may  be  destroyed.  There, 
also,  must  be  studied  and  foreseen,  if  any  charge  do  come 
upon  the  king  and  realm,  how  it  may  be  honourably  borne 
and  discharged.  Farther,  they  declared  that  his  subjects 
had  lovingly  demeaned  themselves,  in  aiding  him  with  their 
substance  to  the  best  of  their  power,  and  that  their  desire 
was  to  understand  how  those  supplies  were  spent.  And, 
farther,  they  had  this  to  declare,  how  by  an  old  ordinance  it 
was  enacted,  that  if  the  king,  not  being  sick,  should  absent 
himself  forty  days,  and  refuse  to  come  to  the  parliament, 
without  regard  to  the  charges  of  his  people,  and  their  great 
pains,  then  they  may  lawfully  return  home  to  their  houses ; 
wherefore,  seeing  he  had  been  absent  a  long  time,  and  still 
refused  to  come  among  them,  it  was  greatly  to  their  discom- 
fort. 

It  is  related  that  Richard  made  this  reply : — "  Now  we  do 
plainly  perceive  that  our  people  and  the  commons  go  about 
to  rise  against  us ;  and  in  such  case  nothing  seems  better  for 
us  than  to  ask  aid  of  our  cousin  the  king  of  France,  and 
rather  submit  ourselves  to  him  than  to  our  own  subjects." 


REMONSTRANCE  TO  RICHARD  11.  317 

With  Richard's  clear  knowledge  of  the  character  of  his 
uncles,  and  his  reasonable  suspicion  of  their  designs,  and 
with  the  horrors  of  a  popular  rebellion  fresh  in  remembrance, 
it  is  very  probable  that  such  a  thought  passed  across  his 
mind,  but  most  unlikely  that  he  should  have  given  it  utter- 
ance ;  and  as,  among  the  accusations  which  afterwards  were 
heaped  upon  him,  this  was  never  laid  to  his  charge,  we  may 
fairly  regard  it  as  disproved.*  The  lords,  however,  arc  said 
to  have  replied,  that  this  would  be  no  wise  course,  for  the 
French  king  was  his  old  enemy,  who,  if  he  might  once  set 
foot  in  England,  would  rather  despoil  him  of  his  kingdom 
than  lend  a  helping  hand  to  support  him.  They  proceeded 
to  speak  of  the  great  burden  which  had  been  laid  upon  the 
necks  of  the  people  for  the  supportation  of  the  wars :  by 
reason  whereof  they  were  brought  so  low  that  they  could 
not  pay  their  rents,  and  by  such  means  was  his  power  de- 
cayed, his  lords  brought  behindhand,  and  all  his  people  sore 
impoverished.  And  as  that  king  cannot  be  poor  that  hath 
rich  people,  so  cannot  he  be  rich  that  hath  poor  commons ; 
and  as  he  took  hurt  by  such  inconveniences  chancing  through 
evil  counsellors,  so  the  lords  sustained  no  less,  and  each  one 
after  his  estate  and  calling.  And  if  remedy  were  not  in  time 
provided,  the  realm  must  fall  to  ruin,  and  the  cause  would 
be  imputed  to  him  and  to  his  evil  counsellors.  This  remedy 
consisted  in  their  setting-to  their  helping  hands.  They  are 
said  to  have  proceeded  thus : — "  There  is  yet  one  part  more 
of  our  message  remaining,  to  be  delivered  on  the  part  of 
your  people,  and  it  is  this  :  we  have  an  ancient  constitution, 
and  it  was  not  many  ages  since  experimented  (it  grieves  us 
that  we  must  mention  it),  that  if  the  king,  through  any  evil 
counsel,  or  weak  obstinacy,  or  contempt  of  his  people,  or  out 
of  a  perverse  and  froward  wilfulness,  or  by  any  other  irregular 
courses,  shall  estrange  himself  from  his  people,  and  refuse 
to  govern  by  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the  realm — but  will 
throw  himself  headlong  into  wild  designs,  and  stubbornly 
exercise  his  own  single  arbitrary  will,  that  from  that  time 
it  shall  be  lawful  for  his  people,  by  their  full  and  free  con- 
sent, to  depose  that  king  from  his  throne,  and  establish  upon 
the  same  some  other  of  the  royal  race  in  his  stead."  In 
fact,  a  member  had  been  encouraged  to  call  for  the  record 
containing   the    parliamentary   deposition    of    Edward  II. 

*  This  is  Hume's  opinion,  who,  upon  the  same  ground,  discredits  a  decla- 
ration imputed  to  Richard,  that  he  would  not,  at  the  instance  of  parlia- 
ment, remove  the  meanest  scullion  in  his  kitchen.  Both  rest  upon  Knygh- 
ton's  authority;  and  I  agree  with  Hume  in  thinking  it  plain  that  they 
were  either  intended  by  him  merely  as  an  ornament  to  his  history,  or  are 
felse.— Vol.  iii.  8vo.  edit,  note  B. 

2d3 


318  KAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

Richard  submitted  now,  because  he  wjes  unable  to  resist :  he 
only  obtained  a  respite  for  his  other  ministers,  by  stipulating 
that  they  should  content  themselves  with  carrying  throuen 
their  impeachment  against  Suflfolk ;  and  on  that  condition  ne 
returned  to  the  parliament.* 

Unsuccessful  as  the  king  of  Armenia's  mediation  had 
proved,  there  had  been  nothing  in  his  reception  to  mortify  him ; 
he  had  received  all  the  respect  and  attention  due  to  his  good 
meaning  and  to  his  rank.  But  when  he  arrived  at  Sluys, 
"  the  French  king  and  his  uncles  took  no  regard  to  his  say- 
ing, but  sent  him  back  again  into  France  ;  K)r  their  full  in- 
tention was  to  invade  England,  as  soon  as  they  might  have 
wind  and  weather."  There  was,  however,  something  more 
than  wind  and  weather  to  be  waited  for.  The  king  was  now 
at  Sluys  ;  and  every  day's  report  throughout  Flanders  and 
Artois  was,  that  the  expedition  would  sail  on  the  morrow,  or- 
on  the  next  day  after ;  but  one  of  Charles's  uncles,  the  duke 
of  Berry,  was  not  yet  arrived :  he  moved  "  but  fair  and  softly, 
for  he  had  no  great  appetite  for  the  adventure  ;  and  his  long 
tarrying  was  displeasant  to  the  king,  and  the  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, and  the  other  great  lords  :  they  would  gladly  he  had 
been  come."  They  who  were  not  great  lords  had  far  more 
cause  to  be  impatient  at  his  delay  :  the  great  were  duly  paid 
their  appointments  ;  but  other  poor  companions,  says  Frois- 
sart's  translator,  "  bought  the  bargain."  The  treasurer  of 
the  war,  and  the  clerks  of  the  chamber  of  accounts,  seiid  to 
them,  "  Wait  till  the  next  week,  sirs,  and  then  ye  shall  be 
paid ;"  and  they  had  the  same  answer  when  the  next  week 
came  ;  "  and  if  any  payment  were  made  them,  it  was  but  for 
eight  days,  when  as  many  weeks  were  due."  Men  began  to 
suspect  that  the  expedition  would  altogether  fail,  or  perhaps 
had  never  been  sincerely  intended ;  but  that  when  the  taxes, 
which  had  been  imposed  upon  this  pretext,  were  collected, 
some  excuse  would  then  be  found  for  breaking  it  up.  The 
suspicion,  as  it  affected  the  king  and  his  advisers,  was  inju- 
rious ;  their  hearts  were  set  upon  the  enterprise,  and  their 
honour  pledged  to  it :  but  every  day  rendered  the  expectation 
more  reasonable  :  and  the  chronicler  says  that  they  were  wise 
who  cast  such  doubts,  and  provided  for  themselves  accord- 
ingly. But  the  poor  knights  and  companions  that  were  re- 
tained by  the  great  lords,  spent  all  they  had  :  "  every  thing 
was  so  dear,  that  hard  it  was  to  get  either  bread  or  drink;" 
and  if  they  would  sell  their  pay  or  their  armour,  none  would 
purchase,  unless  they  took  them  at  their  own  iniquitous  ten- 

*  Holinshed,  ij.  775.    Hume,  iii.  15.    Pari.  Hist.  i.  186, 187. 


FRENCH  FLEET  DISPERSED.  319 

der ;  whereas  for  all  that  they  had  to  buy  exorbitant  prices  were 
required.  When  the  lords,  who  lodged  at  Bruges,  sent  to  the 
king  to  ask  when  they  should  depart,  the  answer  always  wjis, 
"  within  three  or  four  days,  or  when  the  duke  of  Berry  is  come, 
and  the  wind  may  serve."  So  ever  the  time  past,  and  the 
days  shortened,  and  the  nights  grew  lon^,  and  the  weather 
began  to  be  foul  and  cold,  "  The  duke  of  Berry,  meantime, 
had  heard  mass  at  Notre  Dame,  preparatory  to  his  solemn 
departure  from  Paris,  and  had  declared,  like  the  kin^  his  ne- 
phew, that  he  would  never  enter  that  capital  again  till  he  had 
been  in  England.  He  set  out  for  Flanders;  and  all  the  way 
as  he  came  he  had  letters  from  the  king  and  from  the  duke 
of  Burgundy  to  hasten  him,  certifying  him  that  they  tarried 
for  nothing  but  his  coming.  So  he  rode  always  forward  ; 
but  it  was  by  small  journeys." 

The  constable,  meantime,  sailed  from  Treguier  to  join  the 
armament  with  a  fleet  of  seventy-two  ships  ;  the  wind  became 
"  fierce  and  great  :"  when  they  were  off  the  mouth  of  the 
Thames  the  fleet  was  dispersed  ;  and  the  English  cruisers 
were  upon  the  alert  to  profit  by  every  opportunity  of  fortune. 
vSeven  of  his  vessels,  having  the  provision  on  board,  were 
driven  to  Zeeland,  and  there  captured.  The  lord  William 
of  Beauchamp,  captain  of  Calais,  made  two  prizes,  one  of 
which  was  laden  with  "  divers  great  guns  and  engines  to  beat 
down  walls  withal ;"  and  there  was  on  board  a  great  quantity 
of  powder,  "  that  was  more  worth  than  all  the  rest.  The 
other  was  laden  with  a  part  of  the  great  enclosure  or  wooden 
wall ;  and  in  her  the  master  carpenter  of  that  extraordinary 
work  was  taken,  being  an  Englishman  who  had  been  banish- 
ed his  country  for  some  offence.  Three  other  ships,  like- 
wise, fell  into  their  hands,  carrying  parts  of  the  same  enclo- 
sure. These,  because  of  their  ladmg,  were  brought  to  Lon- 
don, "whereof  the  king  had  great  joy,  and  so  had  all  the 
Londoners ;"  and  when  their  curiosity  had  been  satisfied,  as 
there  was  enough  of  this  turretted  palisade  to  be  rendered 
useful,  it  was  sent  to  be  set  up  round  the  town  of  Win- 
chelsea.* 

The  constable  thought  himself  fortunate  in  reaching  Sluys 
with  the  remainder  of  his  fleet.  Upon  his  arrival,  the  king 
was  earnest  with  him  that  they  should  speedily  set  forth, 
saying,  "  the  duke  of  Berry  would  arrive  in  one  or  two 
days."  But  the  constable  replied,  "  We  cannot  depart,  sir, 
till  the  wind  serves ;  for  it  is  so  sore  against  us,  and  so 
'  strainable,'  that  the  sailors  say  it  has  not  been  so  unfavour- 

♦  Hulinsbed,  ii.  773.  777.    Froissart,  iii.  43. 


320  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

able  for  a  great  while  as  now." — "  Constable,"  said  the 
kirig,  "  I  have  been  in  my  ship,  and  the  air  of  the  sea  pleas- 
eth  me  greatly  :  I  believe  I  shall  be  a  good  sailor,  for  the 
sea  did  me  no  hurt." — "  In  God's  name,  sir  !"  the  constable 
replied,  "  it  hath  done  hurt  to  me  ;  for  we  were  in  great  peril 
by  fortune  of  the  sea  and  of  the  winds  that  rose  against  us 
off  the  English  coast;  and  we  have  lost  of  our  ships,  where- 
of I  am  right  sorry,  if  that  might  amend  it ;  but  it  is  without 
remedy  for  this  time."  The  wind  came  round  before  the 
duke  of  Berry  arrived :  his  delay  had  now  exhausted  the 
king's  patience ;  and  it  was  deemed  better  that  he  should  be 
left  to  follow  them,  than  that  the  execution  of  this  mighty 
enterprise  should  be  deferred  longer.  Accordingly,  on  the 
even  of  All  Saints,  the  fleet  weighed  anchor,  and  launched 
from  the  haven  of  Sluys  ;  but  they  had  not  proceeded  above 
twenty  miles  upon  their  course  before  it  veered  again  to  its 
old  point,  and  drove  them  back  with  such  force,  that  several 
of  them  were  disabled  before  they  came  again  to  anchor.* 

Thus  "  always  the  time  past,  and  the  winter  approached, 
and  the  lords  lay  there  in  great  cold  and  peril."  And  yet 
they  were  not  so  eager  to  be  gone  as  the  Flemings  were  desi- 
rous to  be  relieved  from  the  burden  of  such  sojourners.  The 
people  of  the  country  asked,  in  language  more  characteristic 
than  reverent  or  complimentary,  "  why  the  French  king  tar- 
ried there  so  long,  instead  of  crossing  over  to  England  ;  and 
if  they  were  not  poor  enough  already  that  the  French  must 
make  them  poorer  1" — "  They  will  not  cross  this  year,"  said 
they,  "  for  the  realm  of  England  is  not  so  easily  to  be  won. 
What  would  they  do  in  England  ]  Englishmen  are  not  of  the 
condition  of  Frenchmen.  When  the  English  were  in  France, 
and  over-rode  their  country,  they  hid  themselves  in  their  for- 
tresses, and  fled  before  them  as  the  lark  before  the  hawk  !" 
There  was  great  danger  that  this  temper  might  show  itself 
in  something  more  than  murmurs  ;  for  the  remembrance  of 
the  battle  of  Roosebeke  was  rankling  in  the  minds  of  the 
common  people,  whose  fathers,  brethren,  and  friends  had 
there  been  slaughtered.  A  quarrel  began  at  Bruges,  through 
the  insolence  of  some  of  the  French  lackeys  ;  and  if  the 
lord  of  Ghistelles  had  not  happened  to  be  there,  and  exerted 
himself  with  the  help  of  the  better  citizens  in  time,  it  is  said 
that  not  a  lord,  knight,  nor  squire  of  France  in  that  city, 
where  so  many  of  them  were  lodged,  would  have  escaped 
unslain ;  so  bitter  was  the  resentment  of  that  yet  recent 
wrong,  and  the  indignation  which  the  French  had  excited  by 

*  Froissart,  iij.  43.    Holinshed,  777. 


DUKE  OF  BERRV.  321 

their  conduct  towards  the  women.  Ghistelles,  by  his  exer- 
tions and  his  persuasions,  for  he  spoke  to  the  people  in  their 
own  tongue,  not  only  saved  a  great  part  of  the  French  from 
being  massacred  that  day,  but  that  beautiful  city  also  from 
the  destruction  with  which  such  an  outburst  of  popular  feel- 
ing would  have  been  revenged.* 

At  length  the  duke  of  Berry  arrived,  having  purposely 
protracted  the  time,  that,  by  the  excuse  of  winterjj'  he 
might  cause  the  expedition  to  be  put  off.  "  Ah,  fair  uncle," 
said  the  king,  "how  greatly  have  1  desired  to  see  you  !  Why 
have  you  tarried  so  long?  We  had  been  now  in  England, 
and  should  have  fought  with  our  enemies,  if  ye  had  been 
come." — "The  duke,"  says  Froissart,  "began  to  smile,  and 
to  excuse  himself,  and  did  not  show  at  once  what  lay  in  his 
heart.  November  being  far  advanced,  he  trusted  that  the 
weather  would  aid  his  advice,  and  waited  only  a  favourable 
opportunity  for  giving  it."  Every  day  it  was  said,  that  the 
fleet  would  sail  on  the  morrow,  and  when  the  morrow  came, 
the  wind  still  continued  as  contrary  as  this  duke  wished  it. 
Many  of  the  ships  were  ready  to  weigh  anchor  upon  the 
first  signal,  and  not  a  few  of  the  chief  persons  had  embarked, 
emulous  who  should  be  the  first  to  land  in  the  enemy's 
country ;  but  when  the  duke  had  been  a  week  at  Sluys,  and 
December  had  begun,  and  even  the  most  adventurous  could 
not  but  acknowledge  that  "  it  was  no  good  season  for  so 
many  noble  men  to  take  the  sea,"  the  king's  council  assem- 
bled to  deliberate  whether  they  should  proceed  with  the  ex- 
pedition,— the  very  object  of  their  meeting  disclosing  a  de- 
sire that  it  might  be  given  up.  "The  duke  of  Berry  then," 
says  Froissart,  "  brake  all,  and  showed  so  many  reasonable 
reasons,:^  that  they  who  had  most  eagerness  to  go  were  all 
put  out  of  heart.  He  said  it  was  a  folly  and  a  great  wrong 
to  counsel  the  French  king,  who  was  yet  but  a  youth,  to  put 
to  sea  at  such  a  time  of  year,  and  to  make  war  upon  peo- 
ple in  a  country  where  no  one  knew  the  ways,  and  which 
was  a  poor  country,  and  a  full  evil  one  to  make  war  in. 
"  Suppose  that  we  were  all  arrived  there,  and  had  landed, 
they  would  not  fight  with  us  till  they  listed  ;  and  we  should 
not  dare  leave  our  provision  behind  us,  for  if  we  did  it 
would  all  be  lost.     They  who  would  make  such  a  voyage, 

*  Sueyro,  ii.  18.    Froissart,  iii.  43. 

t "  Wherein,"  aaya  Holinshed,  "  he  showed  more  wit  than  all  the  counsel 
tors  which  the  Frnncb  king  had  about  him;  for  if  he  had  not  politicly 
shifted  off  the  matter,  the  king  had  landed  here  in  England,  to  the  great 
danger  of  his  person,  and  loss  of  his  people." 

I  "  Tant  de  raisons  raisonnublea." 


322  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

and  to  such  a  country  (for  the  way  from  France  to  England 
is  not  so  long),  oughtnot  to  begin  it  in  the  heart  of  winter,  but 
in  the  heart  of  summer.  Call  together  all  the  mariners  that 
are  here,  and  they  will  tell  you  that  my  words  are  good ;  and 
that  great  as  our  power  is  now,  though  we  have  at  present 
1500  vessels  zissembled,  there  would  not  be  300  in  company 
when  we  arrived  there:  behold,  then,  the  peril  we  should 
put  ourselves  in !  I  say  this  by  way  of  counsel,  and  not 
that  I  would  excuse  myself  from  the  enterprise :  and  since 
the  greater  part  of  the  kingdom  of  France  inclines  in  this 
to  my  way  of  thinking,  I  would  that  you  and  I  should  go, 
fair  brother  of  Burgundy,  but  I  would  not  have  the  king  go, 
for  if  any  ill  should  befall  him  it  would  be  laid  to  us."* 

The  young  king,  who  was  present,  listened  to  this  with  no 
good  pleasure ;  and  when  his  uncle  had  ceased,  he  replied, 
"  In  God's  name  !  if  none  else  go,  I  will."  Upon  which  the 
lords  began  to  smile,  and  say,  "  the  king  is  of  a  brave  will '." 
They  agreed,  however,  to  defer  the  expedition  till  April  or 
May  ;|  and  that  such  stores  as  were  not  perishable  should 
be  reserved  till  that  time.  Accordingly,  orders  were  given 
that  every  man  should  return  to  his  home,  and  there  be 
ready  at  the  king's  commandment  early  in  the  spring. 
"  Then  might  have  been  seen  lords  and  knights  sore  dis- 
pleased, especially  such  as  came  from  distant  parts,  and 
had  travailed  their  bodies,  and  spent  their  money  in  trust  to 
have  had  a  good  season."  The  counts  of  Savoy  and  Ar- 
magnac,  and  the  dauphin  of  Auvergne,  and  many  other  great 
lords,  departed  in  ill  will,  because  they  had  not  been  in  Eng- 
land. This  dauphin  told  Froissart  that  the  provision  for 
the  expedition  which  he  left  at  Sluys,  and  all  of  which  he 
lost,  had  cost  him  10,000  franks;  he  did  not  consider  how 
likely  it  was, — how  all  but  certain, — that  if  he  had  landed 
on  the  desired  shore,  such  an  allotment  of  English  ground 
as  Harold  Hardrada's  would  have  been  his  portion  there !  So 

*  Froissart,  iii.  44. 

t  "  Este  golpe  del  cielo,"  says  Siieyro,  "  el  invierno  y  el  lemor  dieron 
por  biienas  sus  razones ;  assi  se  dissipo  la  empresa,  haviendo  sufrido  el 
pueblo  los  danos  en  lugardel  enemigo."  P.  Daniel  most  unjuslly  imputes 
the  duke's  conduct  to  jealousy.  He  says,  "  Le  due  de  Berri  n'avoit  point 
fet6  d'avis  de  cette  entreprise  ;  maison  avoit  eupeu  d'fegarda  son  sentiment, 
et  apres  qu'elle  eut  ot6  resolue,  on  ne  I'avoit  consulte  que  par  c<iremonie. 
II  en  fut  oftensfe,  et  dit  a  quelques-uns  de  ses  confidens,  qu'il  trouveroit  bien 
les  nioiens  de  la  faire  6chouer.  II  en  vent  a  bout — par  rentetement  d'un 
seul  homme,  et  peiit-etre  par  son  avarice  (car  le  bruit  courut  alors  qu'il 
avoit  recu  de  grandes  commes  du  Roi  d'Angleterre),  tous  ces  grands  pr6- 
paratifs.'et  les  d^penses  infinies  qu'on  avoit  faites,  ne  servirent  qu'a  rendre 
la  France  ridicule,  quand  tous  ces  projets,  qui  avoient  tenu  toute  I'Europe 
dans  I'attente  d'un  grand  evenement  s'en  furent  all6s  en  fum6e." — v.  331, 
332.    De  Serres  omits  all  mention  of  this  armament. 


MISCOVERNMKNT  IN  KNOLAND.  323 

the  army  broke  up,  some  with  light  hearts  and  some  with 
angry  ones.  The  officers  remained  behind  to  dispose  of 
what  stores  they  could  for  their  master's  profit,  though  they 
knew  not  to  whom  ;  and  well  were  they  if  they  coula  obtain 
ten  franks  for  what  had  cost  an  hundred ;  very  many  lost 
every  thing  which  they  could  not  carry  with  them.  Such 
was  the  pitiful  result  of  an  armament  which  cost  the  king- 
dom of  France,  in  P^oissarl's  words,  100,000  franks  thirty 
times  told.  When  this  was  known  in  England,  some  were 
"  right  joyful  and  glad  thereof,  thinking  they  had  escaped  a 
great  peril ;  and  others  were  angry  and  displeased  therewith, 
which  were  such  as  thought  to  have  had  some  promotion 
and  profit  by  the  enemies'  coming;  and  divers  of  them  said 
that  they  would  never  set  by  the  Frenchmen  more."*  Men 
whose  fathers  had  fought  at  Cressy  and  at  Poictiers  might 
rightly  feel  this  confidence  whenever  they  met  the  French  in 
battle ;  but  they  ought  to  have  remembered  now  that  their 
own  courage  had  not,  in  this  instance,  been  the  means  of 
their  deliverance,  neither  had  the  wisdom  of  their  rulers  con- 
tributed to  it;  but  that  it  was  overruling  Providence  alone 
which  had  abated  the  pride  of  the  enemy,  and  confounded 
their  devices.  At  the  very  time  when  the  danger  appeared 
most  imminent  and  inevitable,  parliament,  or,  more  truly,  the 
great  nobles  by  whom  it  was  directed,  were  making  terms 
with  the  king;  nor  did  they  grant  the  supplies  which  were 
necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  country,  till  by  an  act  pre- 
luded with  the  lying  assertion  that  it  was  framed  for  the 
reverence  of  God,  to  nourish  peace,  unity,  and  good  accord 
within  the  realm,  and  specially  for  the  common  profit  and 
case  of  the  people,  and  which  the  king  was  compelled  to 
acknowledge  as  of  his  own  free  will,  and  to  swear  to, — they 
had  transferred  the  sovereign  power  from  him  to  a  council 
of  fourteen,  who  were  all  of  his  uncle  Gloucester's  faction. 
"  O  dear  country  !"  says  Speed,  "  hadst  thou  not  then  been 
apparently  in  God's  protection  (for  the  French  having  staid 
for  a  wind  till  Hallowtide,  and  then  having  it  half  way,  were 
beaten  back,  and  the  voyage  made  utterly  void),  certainly 
thy  ruin  had  then  been  certain  !  God,  indeed,  turned  from 
us  the  merciless  point  of  the  French  sword ;  but  here  began 
the  seeds  of  innumerable  other  worse  miseries,  never  to  be 
remembered  without  sighs  and  tears."f 

*  Froissart,  iii  44.    Sueyro,  ii.  18. 

1  Sliced,  601.  "  What,"  says  the  honest  chronicler,  "shall  wc  think  or  say 
of  those  |)opular  lords,  by  this  gentle  king  armed,  to  his  own  bane,  with 
power  and  greatness,  who,  under  the  specious  pretext  of  reforming  abuses, 
did  satisfy  their  envy  and  inbred  insolency?    The  king  tells  them  that 


384  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  E?xGLAND. 

The  seeds  of  those  fearful  calamities  were  indeed,  as  the 
same  honest  writer  has  remarked,  then  sown ;  but  the  people 
were  not  without  some  present  taste  of  the  evils  which  are 
always  brought  upon  them  whenever  the  government  falls 
into  the  hands  of  a  reckless  faction.  A  great  force  had  been 
assembled  round  the  metropolis,  that  they  might  be  ready  to 
march  against  the  enemy  wherever  a  landing  should  be 
effected :  all  the  towns  and  villages  for  twenty  miles  round 
about  were  full  of  men-of-arms  and  archers,  "  lying  as  it  had 
been  in  camp  ;"  and  wanting  both  victuals  and  money,  for 
they  received  no  pay,  but  were  left  to  live  as  they  could, 
"  they  were  driven  to  spoil,  and  to  take  by  violence  what 
they  could  get.  And  when  at  length  they  were  licensed  to 
depart  home,  many  of  them  were  constrained  through  ne- 
cessity to  sell  their  horses  and  armour,  and  some  to  rob  as 
they  went  homeward."*  When  at  length,  upon  the  earnest 
suit  of  some  of  those  great  lords  who  had  the  service  of  the 
country  at  heart,  a  scanty  supply  was  granted,  the  earl  of 
Arundel,  being  lord  admiral,  was  appointed  to  receive  it,  and 
fit  out  therewith  a  fleet.  To  this  use  it  was  faithfully  appro- 
priated ;  the  lord  admiral  knew  that  his  men  would  be  in- 
spected, for  the  prevention  of  such  abuses  as  had  been  too 
common  in  the  navy  ;f  he  was  careful  therefore  to  procure 
1  ?ft7  S^*^^  men,  and  went  to  sea  as  well  trimmed  and  ap- 
pointed as  was  possible.  The  number  of  his  ships  is 
not  stated,  but  according  to  Froissart  there  w^ere  500  men-of- 
arms  on  board,  and  1000  archers.  The  earls  of  Devonshire 
and  Nottingham  were  in  his  company,  and  the  bishop  of 

England  is,  as  tliey  saw,  in  manifest  danger,  and  prays  their  succour  in 
money.  What  is  the  answer?  That  the  Duke  of  Ireland  (for  now  the  mar- 
quis of  Dublin  was  made  a  duke),  and  Michael  at  the  Pole  (so  they  scorn- 
fully called  the  earl  of  Suffolk),  and  others,  must  be  removed.  Things  are 
badly  cirried  at  home,  say  they,  and  they  said  perhaps  truly ;  but  where 
was  now  the  care  of  our  country?  Strange  colours,  for  subjects  to  capitu. 
late  with  their  king,  upon  giving  their  joint  aids  against  the  common 
enemy,  now  ready  with  one  destruction  to  overwhelm  them  all." 

+  Holinshed,  ii.  773.    Speed,  602. 

t  "  He  spared  for  no  costs,"  says  Holinshed  (778.),  "  to  have  the  mos' 
choicest  and  pickedst  fellows  that  might  be  gotten,  not  following  the  evil 
example  of  others  in  times  past,  which  received  tag  and  rag  to  fill  up  their 
numbers,  whom  they  hired  for  small  wages,  and  reserved  the  residue  to 
their  purses.  And  when,  to  the  advancement  of  the  realm's  commodity, 
they  should  have  encountered  the  enemies,  they  shifted  off  all  occasions 
thereto,  and  only  prolonged  time,  without  atchieving  any  enterprise  avail 
able,  to  the  end  they  might  receive  the  \yhole  wages,  and  keep  themselves 
from  danger;  which  they  should  hardly  have  avoided  when  they  had  not 
about  them  such  able  men  as  were  like  to  match  the  enemies.  But  the  earl 
of  Arundel,  contrarily,  got  the  ablest  men  he  might,  not  sparing  his  own 
purse ;  to  the  end  that,  by  their  service,  he  might  atchieve  some  worthy  en- 
terprise, to  redound  unto  the  commodity  of  his  country." 


FLEMISH  FLEET.  325 

Norwich, — a  prelate  of  most  martial  propensities,  who  may 
have  been  a  good  sailor,  though  he  must  needs  have  heen  a 
bad  bishop,  and  had  shown  himself  to  be  no  better  as  a  ge- 
neral. Another  and  more  remarkable  person  embarked  as  a 
volunteer  in  this  fleet,  Pieter  Vanden  Bosch,  one  of  the  most 
distinguished,  intrepid,  and  remorseless  of  the  demagogiies 
of  Ghent.  When  that  city  submitted  to  the  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, he  deemed  it  prudent  to  withdraw  to  England,  where, 
by  John  of  Gaunt's  means,  he  had  a  pension  of  100  marks 
assigned  him  from  the  duties  paid  on  the  exportation  of  wool 
by  foreign  merchants.  He  was  an  expert  seaman,  and 
repose*  seems  not  to  have  suited  one  who  had  so  long  been 
accustomed  to  the  strong  excitement  of  revolutionary  strug- 
gles. They  lay  off  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  "  abiding 
their  adventure,"  in  the  beginning  of  March,  and  looking  for 
the  return  of  the  Flemish  fleet  from  Rochelle.  The  mer- 
chants of  that  place,  of  Flanders,  Hainault,  Holland,  and 
other  countries,  standing  in  fear  of  the  English,  consorted 
together  before  they  sailed  from  Flanders ;  and  the  duke  had 
appointed  them  a  convoy  of  six  galleons  under  his  admiral 
Hans  Buyck,  one  of  the  best  sea  captains  in  those  seas.  They 
had  engaged  to  keep  company  out  and  home,  and  stand  by 
each  other ;  and  when  they  had  taken  in  their  lading  at  Ro- 
chelle, they  were  joined  for  security  by  certain  French  and 
Spanish  ships  consigned  to  merchants  at  Bruges.  When 
they  came  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  having  gone  so 
far  without  danger,  they  descried  the  English  fleet;  and 
"  they  in  the  tall  ships  said  to  their  company,  '  Sirs,  advise 
ye  well ;  we  shall  be  met  by  the  English  army :  they  have 
perceived  us ;  thej  will  take  the  advantage  of  the  wind  and 
tide,  and  we  shall  have  battle  ere  it  be  night.'  " — "  The 
tidings,"  says  Froissart,  "  were  not  pleasing  to  some,  and 
specially  to  the  merchants  who  had  their  merchandise  aboard  ; 
they  would  gladly  have  been  thence  if  they  could.  Howbeit, 
sith  they  saw  that  fight  they  must,  and  could  not  pass  with- 
out it,  they  arrayed  themselves  thereto ;  there  were  there, 
arbalisters  and  others  all  armed  and  defenceable,  more  than 
700  men.  And  Hans  Buyck,  who  was  right  sage  and  hardy 
in  arms,  and  had  done  ^eat  damage  on  the  sea  to  the  Eng- 
lish, he  set  every  thing  m  good  order,  and  decked  his  ships 
well  and  wisely,  as  he  could  right  well  do,  and  said,  '  Sirs, 
be  not  abashed  :  we  are  men  enough  to  fight  with  the  Eng- 
lish army,  and  the  wind  will  serve  us,  so  that  even  while  we 


*  "  Aquel  animo  inquieto,"  says  Sueyro,  "  buscava  qiialquier  occasion  en 
qui  empliarse,  aunque  fuessecon  danode  la  patria  y  de  lossuyos." 
Vol.  I.  2  E 


326  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

be  fighting  we  shall  coast  Flanders,  and  approach  nearer- and 
nearer  to  Sluys.'  Some  took  good  comfort  with  these  words, 
and  some  not;  so  they  put  themselves  in  good  order  and  de- 
fence, and  made  ready  their  cross-bows  and  their  guns."* 

It  was  on  a  Sunday,  and  the  eve  of  Lady-day  (for  war 
keeps  neither  holiday  nor  Sabbath),  that  the  Flemish  fleet 
had  been  descried  far  oflf  from  the  mast  of  one  of  the  English 
ships ;  and  the  earl  of  Arundel,  "  greatly  rejoicing  at  the 
news,"  immediately  put  to  sea.  The  Flemings  are  de- 
scribed, when  they  approached,  as  making  show  of  a  deter- 
mination to  engage  them,  and  the  English  as  feigning  to 
retire  in  seeming  mistrust  of  being  able  to  match  these  ad- 
versaries, who,  coveting  a  safe  passage  rather  than  battle, 
passed  by;  but  by  this  manceuvre  the  English  "got  the 
wind  fit  for  their  purpose."  Their  galleys  came  foremost 
with  stress  of  oars,  and  the  archers,  with  whom  they  were 
well-manned,  began  to  shoot  fiercely,  and  lost  much  of  their 
shot ;  for  the  Flemings  kept  under  their  decks,  and  would 
not  expose  themselves  to  the  arrows,  but  drove  along  with 
the  wind ;  and  some  of  their  cross-bowmen,  who  were  out 
of  the  archers'  reach,  discharged  their  quarrels  at  advantage, 
80  that  the  galleys  lost  many  men,  and  were  distressed  ;  but 
then  came  up  Arundel  with  his  company,  and  the  bishop  of 
Norwich  with  his,  and  the  main  fleet.  The  enemy,  how- 
ever, inferior  as  they  were  in  force,  defended  themselves 
bravely,  and  with  right  good  will,  Hans  Buyck  demeaning 
himself  with  equal  skill  and  courage.  He  was  in  a  great 
strong  ship,  and  had  three  cannon,  which  discharged  such 
great  and  heavy  shot,-j-  "  that  wherever  they  lighted  they  did 
great  damage ;  and  ever  as  they  fought,  they  drew  by  little 
and  little  toward  Flanders ;  and  there  were  some  of  the  mer- 
chant ships  which  took  the  coast  and  the  shoal  water,  and 
saved  themselves,  where  the  groat  ships  could  not  follow 
tliem."  But  the  engagement  was  continued  with  great 
eagerness  on  one  side,  and  great  resolution  on  the  other,  and 
there  were  "  ships  broken  and  sunk  on  both  parts ;"  for  out 
of  the  tops  they  cast  down  great  bars  of  iron,  which  where 
they  fell  carried  every  thing  before  them  down  to  the  bottom. 
This  was  a  hard  battle  and  well-fought,  for  it  lasted  three  or 
four  hours,  and  when  day  failed  they  drew  apart  and  cast 
anchor,  and  rested  all  night,  and  drest  their  wounded  men ; 

*  Holinshed,  ii.  778.    Froissart,  iii.  52.    Sueyro,  i.  21,  22. 

t  "  Carreaux  si  gros  et  si  grans,"  which  lord  Berners  renders  great  stones. 
This  may,  probably,  be  right,  but  I  have  not  ventured  to  follow  him,  be- 
cause Froissart  expressly  says,  quarrels,  using  the  same  word  as  for  the 
cross-bow  »hot. 


ACTION  WITH  THE  FLEMISH  FLEET.  327 

and  when  the  tide  came  they  disanchored,  and  drew  up  sail, 
and  returned  fiercely  and  resolutely  to  the  battle.  Vanden 
Bosch,  who  had  a  command  there  of  archers  as  well  as  sea- 
men, is  said  to  have  "  given  the  Flemings  much  to  do  that 
day,  being  sore  displeased  that  they  and  the  merchants  should 
have  resisted  so  long."  No  men,  indeed,  could  have  be- 
haved better  against  such  odds,  but  the  stronger  side  pre- 
vailed more  and  more  ;  and  when  they  came  between  Blank- 
enberg  and  Sluys,  near  Cadsant,  "  there  was  the  discomfiture : 
where  the  Flemings,  now  close  to  their  port,  might  have 
looked  lor  succour,  they  found  none,  for  there  were  no  men- 
of-arms  at  Sluys,  neither  in  ships  nor  in  the  town.  Only 
the  bailey  of  the  place,  Arnulf  by  name,  got  into  a  good  bark 
of  his  own,  with  a  few  bold  men  of  the  place  and  twenty 
arbalisters,  and  rowed  till  he  came  to  the  fleets,  just  as  the 
victory  was  completed.  When  he  perceived  this,  he  made 
his  men  discharge  their  cross-bows  thrice  in  bravado,  and 
was  then  chased  into  the  haven  with  little  danger  to  himself, 
his  vessel  being  able  to  keep  nearer  the  land  than  the  Eng- 
lish could  follow  him."* 

Some  of  the  Flemings  got  into  Blankenberg,  and  some 
into  Sluys ;  others,  which  were  cut  off  from  either  place, 
Arundel  pursued  for  two  days,  till  he  captured  them ;  so  that 
what  in  the  battle  and  in  the  chase  about  100  ships  were 
taken.  Buyck  was  made  prisoner ;  and  it  is  more  honour- 
able to  him  than  to  the  E  nglish  government,  that  they  would 
consent  neither  to  ransom  nor  exchange  this  brave  and  enter- 
prising seaman.  He  was  detained  in  London,  as  a  prisoner 
at  large,  with  all  courtesy,  under  no  other  restriction  than  that 
of  always  sleeping  in  the  city  ;  and  there,  after  three  years, 
he  died.  This  would  not  have  been  done  in  the  days  of  the 
Black  Prince.  Vanden  Bosch,  whose  old  feelings  seem  to 
have  recovered  all  their  strength,  would  have  had  Arundel 
follow  up  his  success,  and  make  an  attack  upon  Sluys ;  and 
Froissart  says  that  if  he  had  done  so  he  would  have  won  it-, 
for  the  people  of  the  town  were  greatly  dismayed  at  the  loss 
of  the  fleet,  and  doubted  whether  they  should  abandon  the 
place,  or  go  on  board  the  ships,  and  defend  the  haven  :  but 
the  English  chiefs  were  of  opinion  that  this  would  be  a  rash 
enterprise  ;f  for  if  they  entered  Sluys  and  got  possession  of 

*  Froissarl,  iii.  52. 

t  "  Mais  les  Anglois  ne  I'avoient  point  eu  courage,  ni  en  conseil."  T^ii 
imputation  of  want  of  courage  is  remarkable  as  coming  from  Froissart. 
He  would  not  have  read  that  sentence  to  the  bishop  of  Norwich,  who  seem* 
to  have  been  much  such  another  "good  Christian"  as  my  Cid's  bishop, 
DoD  Hieronymo,  "  that  perfect  one  with  the  shaven  crown,"  who  used  to 


328  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

it,  the  people  of  Bruges,  of  Damme,  and  of  Hardenburg 
would  besiege  them  there,  and  they  might  lose  all  that  they 
had  won.  They  kept  off  the  harbour,  and  attempted  to  burn 
the  ships  that  were  lying  there ;  for  this  purpose  they  took 
the  worst  of  their  prizes,  payed  them  well  both  within  and 
without,  and  set  them  on  fire,  and  so  let  them  drive  with 
wind  and  tide  into  the  port,  not  caring  to  what  nation  the 
vessels  belonged  which  might  be  consumed.  But  the  at- 
tempt altogether  failed.  They  remained  some  days  off  the 
coast,  landing  every  day,  and  foraging  on  foot  for  want  of 
horses,  and  burning  towns  and  villages  along  the  coast, 
and  sometimes  entering  into  the  country ;  and  when  they 
were  tired  of  this  sort  of  warfare,  in  which  there  was  little 
danger  and  no  glory,  they  sailed  for  England  with  their 
prizes. 

The  booty  taken  in  the  fleet  is  estimated  by  Froissart  at 
200,000  franks.  The  quantity  of  wine  is  variously  stated  at 
9000  tons  or  at  19,000,  "whereby,"  it  is  the  good  chroni- 
cler's remark,  "wine  was  the  dearer  all  the  year  after  in 
Flanders,  Holland,  and  Brabant,  and  the  better  cheap  in 
England,  as  it  was  reason  :  such  are  the  adventures  of  this 
world ;  if  one  hath  damage  another  hath  profit."  Before 
the  earl  of  Arundel  left  the  Flemish  coast,  the  citizens  of 
Middleburg  came  to  him,  "  and  requested  that  they  might 
buy  these  wines  of  him,  and  pay  for  the  same  after  the  rate 
of  100  shillings  the  tun,  alleging  how  they  were  the  king's 
friends,  and  stood  in  need  of  wines.  But  the  earl,  thinking 
it,"  says  Holinshed,  "more  reason  that  those  which  had 
borne  the  charges  of  the  journey,  to  wit,  the  commons  of  the 
realm  of  England,  should  have  the  commodity  thereof  than 
any  other,  he  denied  their  suit ;  but  yet  to  show  them  some 
pleasure  as  his  friends,  he  gave  them  twenty  tuns  to  make 
merry  with."  The  merchants  of  Zierickzee  were  more  for- 
tunate :  they  claimed  part  of  the  wines  as  being  their  pro- 
perty ;  their  claim,  it  appears,  was  valid,  and  they  had  it 

smite  the  Moors,  "  for  the  love  of  charity,"  till  the  blood  ran  down  from  bis 
upraised  band  to  bis  elbow. 

"  The  earls,"  says  Trussell,  "  in  this  service,  for  their  valour  and  courtesy, 
got  great  reputation  ;  and  their  actions  did  by  so  much  appear  the  more 
honourable,  by  how  much  the  unfortunate  insufficiency  of  other  generals, 
by  whose  either  rashness,  or  cowardice,  or  both,  many  soldiers  bad  been 
defeated  every  year,  had  been  famous  before  for  one  loss  or  other.  At  their 
return,  the  king  (more  inclinable  to  revenge  displeasure  than  reward  desert, 
for  it  is  troublesome  to  be  grateful,  but  revenge  is  pleasant,  and  preferred 
before  gain)  entertained  them  with  strangeness  of  speech,  and  by  his  coun- 
teiiance  seemed  he  was  ill  pleased,  for  that  they  had  deserved  so  well"  (10.) 
It  is  evident,  from  this  passage,  that  some  blame  was  imputed  to  the  com- 
manders, for  the  vulgar-minded  imputation  upon  the  king  is  unworthy  of 
notice. 


HENRY  PERCY.  329 

restored.  "  Good  cause  there  was,"  says  Froissart,  "  why 
the  English  should  deal  courteously  by  them ;  for  they  of 
Zierickzee  never  would  agree  with  the  French  to  go  against 
England,  but  roundly  declared  that  they  should  take  neither 
ships  nor  barges  of  theirs,  whereby  they  came  greatly  into 
love  and  favour  with  the  English." — "  As  tor  that  which 
fell  to  the  earl's  own  share,  he  used,"  we  are  told,  "  such 
bountifulness  in  bestowing  it  among  his  friends,  that  he  left 
not  to  himself  so  much  as  one  tun.  He  won,  therefore,  no 
small  praise,  that,  forbearing  his  own  commodity,  which  he 
might  have  reaped  in  selling  those  wines  to  strangers,  he 
had  more  regard  to  the  profit  of  the  commons,  whereby  they 
might  understand,  that  that  which  they  had  laid  forth  to- 
wards the  setting  forward  of  his  journey  was  not  altogether 
lost,  nor  cast  away.  By  these  means,  besides  the  commen- 
dation which  he  drew  to  himself,  he  also  won  the  hearts  and 
good  will  of  the  people,  whose  friendship  is  purchased  by 
gifts  and  good  deeds,  since  they  make  profit  the  mete-rod  of 
amity,  and  bound  in  benevolence  with  received  benefits."* 
Richer  captures  have  been  brought  home,  but  none,  perhaps, 
ever  before  or  since,  that  so  literally  gladdened  the  hearts  of 
the  people ;  for  the  rich  wines  of  Poictou  and  Xaintonge, 
which  they  thought  to  have  drank  that  year  in  Flanders,  in 
llainault,  in  Brabant,  in  Liege,  and  in  many  parts  of  Pi- 
cardy,  were  sold  in  London  and  in  other  parts  of  England: 
and  being  uttered  abroad  there,  made  it  so  plentiful  that,  ac- 
cording to  our  own  chroniclers,  it  was  sold  for  a  mark  the 
tun,  and  the  choicest  for  twenty  shillings. f 

While  the  invasion  had  been  apprehended,  Henry  Percy — 
ever  to  be  known  by  the  appellation  of  Hotspur,  given  him  by 
the  Scotch,  but  fixed  upon  him  by  Shakspeare — was  stationed 
at  Calais,  for  the  defence  of  that  then  most  important  place. 
"  And,  indeed,"  says  Speed,:!:  "  his  nature  did  answer  his 
by-name,  for  he  made  such  ridings  into  the  quarters  about 
Calais,  that  they  could  never  wish  a  worse  neighbour." 
Afterward,  when  it  was  well  understood  that  this  fortress 
would  not  be  attacked,  he  who  was  justly  described  as  the 
pattern  of  all  virtue  and  martial  prowess,  returned  home,  "to 
be  present  where  the  greatest  danger  was  expected."  If  the 
king's  favourites  are  not  calumniated  in  this  (as  certainly 
they  have  been  in  other  points),  his  zeal  for  the  service  of 
the  country  was  but  ill  requited  :  they  are  charged  with  send- 
ing him  to  sea  "  to  beat  back  the  attempts  of  the  enemy," 

*  Holinshed.ii.  778.  ]  Ib'iil.    Fabyan,  533.    Froissart,  iii.  32. 

i  Page  COl. 
2e2 


330  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

but  slenderly  appointed  to  achieve  any  great  enterprise ;  and 
this  they  are  accused  of  having  done  "  of  some  envious  pur- 
pose, because  he  had  got  a  name  among  the  common  people 
to  be  a  very  hardy  and  robust  gentleman,  as  well  among 
Englishmen  as  Scots."  Whatever  was  the  object  of  his  ex- 
pedition, or  of  those  who  sent  him  on  it,  he,  "  either  ignorant 
of  what  had  been  devised  against  him,  or  disregarding  it, 
boldly  and  valiantly  executed  the  business  enjoined  him; 
and  having  remained  abroad  during  the  whole  time  of  his 
appointed  service,  returned  safely  home."* 

When  the  armament  at  Sluys  was  broken  up,  it  was  or- 
dained, "  to  show  courage  and  good  will,"  lest  it  might  be 
said  that  the,  French  were  recreant  to  undertake  this  voyage, 
that  early  in  May,  when  the  sea  should  be  fair  and  pleasant, 
an  invasion  should  be  effected.  For  this  purpose  the  consta- 
ble was  to  assemble  4000  men-at-arms  and  2000  arbalisters 
at  Treguier,  where  the  chief  preparations  were  to  be  made ; 
every  man  was  to  take  with  him  a  horse,  for  without  horses 
it  was  thought  that  they  could  not  enter  the  country  so  as  to 
carry  on  a  successful  war ;  and  stores  were  provided  for  four 
or  five  months'  consumption,  the  constable  well  knowing  that 
the  English,  as  soon  as  they  knew  of  the  coming  of  a  host 
against  them,  would  destroy  every  thing  in  the  plain  countrj', 
rather  than  that  the  enemy  should  profit  by  it.  While  one 
fleet  was  collected  there,  the  admiral  was  to  embark  an  equal 
force  on  board  another  at  Harfleur  for  the  same  destination. 
These  preparations  were  serious;  yet  in  England  they  seem 
to  have  been  little  regarded,  either  because  the  last  year's 
show  of  invasion  had  ended  so  pitifully,  or  because  it  was 
believed  that  the  real  purpose  of  the  French  was  to  withdraw 
John  of  Gaunt  from  his  enterprise  upon  Castile, — or,  which 
is  more  probable,  because  those  whose  duty  it  was  to  attend 
to  the  cares  of  state  were  wholly  occupied  in  factious  com- 
binations and  commotions.  Of  this  the  French  were  well 
informed,  and  they  expected  to  profit  accord ingly.f  They 
intended  to  land  in  two  bodies,  one  at  Dover,  the  other  in 
the  Orwell ;  every  thing  was  on  board  ;  the  day  for  the  de- 
parture of  the  expedition  was  fixed,  and  close  at  hand  ;  and 
the  men  had  received  fifteen  days'  wages  in  advance,  when 
the  whole  scheme  was  frustrated  by  one  of  those  sudden 
strokes:!:  of  policy  or  passion  which  we  read  of  only  in  the 

*  Holinshed,  ii.  779.  f  Froissart,  iii.  63, 64. 

J  "  If  I  should  8ay  that  such  matters  fell  in  that  season,  and  not  open  the 
matter  clearly,  which  was  great,  perilous,  and  horrible,  this  might  be  a 
chronicle,  but  no  history.  I  might  let  it  overpass  if  I  list,  but  I  will  not 
do  so;  I  shall  declare  the  cause,  sith  God  hath  given  me  the  knowledge 
thereof,  and  time  and  leisure  to  chronicle  the  matter  at  length."— i^iwart. 


JEAN  DE  BRETAGNE.  331 

history  of  barbarous  times.  During  the  siege  of  Calais, 
Charles  de  Blois  and  his  two  sons  had  been  taken  prisoners 
before  Roche-darian  by  sir  Thomas  Dagworth,  and  sent  to 
England.  At  the  intercession  of  his  cousin,  queen  Philippa, 
and  against  the  opinion  of  the  council,  he  was,  after  four 
years,  set  at  liberty,  upon  engaging  to  pay  a  ransom  of 
200,000  nobles,,  for  which  he  left  both  his  sons  as  hostages. 
The  sum,  though  large,  was  not  deemed  excessive  for  one 
who  claimed  the  dutchy  of  Bretagne,  and,  if  he  had  won  the 
dukedom,  it  w^ould  have  been  willingly  raised  by  the  people, 
among  whom  he  was  deservedly  popular.  In  this  pursuit, 
however,  he  failed ;  and  when,  twelve  years  after  his  deli- 
verance, he  fell  in  the  battle  of  Auray,  his  ransom  was  still 
unpzdd,  and  his  sons  were  still  detained  accordingly.  Theirs 
was  a  hard  lot :  the  one  died,  and  the  other,  Jean  de  Bre- 
tagne, though  held  in  such  easy  and  honourable  custody  as 
befitted  his  rank,  looked  upon  his  condition,  after  five-and- 
thirty  years,  as  desperate.  At  this  time,  however,  when 
utter  hopelessness  and  a  deep  resentment  of  the  indifference 
with  which  his  relations  regarded  his  fate,  had  made  him 
weary  of  life,  the  duke  of  Bretagne,  Jean  de  Montfort,  made 
peace  with  the  French,  and  did  homage  to  the  king  of  France. 
The  very  circumstance  which  thus  seemed  to  leave  Jean 
de  Bretagne  no  chance  for  deliverance  brought  it  about. 
Montfort  had  solicited  and  obtained  English  aid  just  before 
he  came  to  these  terms  with  the  French.  The  promises 
which  h6  had  made  to  the  English,  and  in  reliance  upon 
which  they  had  marched  into  the  country,  were,  of  course, 
broken ;  but  instead  of  endeavouring,  by  his  personal  con- 
duct, to  convince  them  that,  though  this  had  become  neces- 
sary for  him,  his  amicable  and  grateful  feelings  towards 
England  had  undergone  no  change,  he  let  them  suffer  the 
utmost  privations :  their  horses  perished  for  want,  and  the 
men  were  reduced  to  gather  thistles  in  the  fields  and  pound 
them  in  mortars  for  food,  and  to  bruise  their  corn  in  the  same 
manner.  This  treatment  excited  great  indignation  in  Eng- 
land ;  insomuch  that  the  government  offered  to  put  Jean  de 
Bretagne  in  possession  of  the  dutchy  to  which  he  had  inhe- 
rited his  father's  claims,  and  to  give  him  John  of  Gaunt's 
daughter,  Philippa,  in  marriage,  ii  he  would  consent  to  hold 

£ 

To  the  same  purport,  and  touching  thia  same  subject,  he  elsewhere  ex- 
presses himseir  thus  characteristically  : — "  En  si  grand  et  si  iiuble  histoire 
comme  ceste  est  (dont  jc  siru  Jehan  Froissart  ay  este  auginenteur  et  re- 
citeur,  depuis  le  commencement  Jusques  a  maintenant,  par  la  grace  et 
vertu,  que  Dieu  m'a  donnCe  de  si  longuement  vivre,  que  j'ay  en  men  temps 
veu  toutes  les  choses  d'abondancc,  et  de  bonne  volonte),  u'eat  pas  raison 
que  j'oublie  rien  qui  a  ramentevoir  face."— iii.  50. 


332  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

that  dutchy  from  the  king  of  England.  The  noble  hostage 
refused  to  do  any  thing  injurious  to  the  crown  of  France ;  but 
he  declared  his  willingness  to  marry  the  lady  Philippa,  and 
his  desire  to  be  set  free  as  a  consequence  of  that  marriage. 
Here  this  negotiation  ended  :  the  lady  Philippa  was  reserved 
to  become,  like  the  queen  her  grandmother,  whose  fortunate 
name  she  bore,  the  wife  of  an  illustrious  king,  and  the  mother 
of  an  illustrious  ])rogeny.  Another  personage  had  at  this 
time  turned  his  thoughts  towards  the  deliverance  of  Jean  de 
Bretagne,  and  with  intentions  which  were,  perhaps,  not  less 
inimical  to  duke  Jean  de  Montfort.  This  was  the  constable 
Olivier  de  Clisson.  When  the  duke  made  his  peace  with 
France,  one  of  the  conditions  was,  that  he  should  ransom 
Jean  de  Bretagne,  a  charge  properly  belonging  to  the  dutchy, 
and  more  especially  now  to  him,  as  a  point  of  honour  and  just 
feeling  towards  the  son  of  his  brave  competitor  and  his  own 
near  kinsman.  No  steps,  however,  had  been  taken  towards 
this ;  and  Clisson,  who  Avas  then  on  such  terms  of  familiarity 
with  the  duke  as  their  fellowship  in  the  English  court  had 
occasioned,  and  as  seemed  to  imply  friendship,  ventured  to 
tell  him,  that  the  performance  of  his  engagement  was  looked 
for,  and  that  the  people  liked  him  the  less  for  delaying  it. 
The  duke  asked  where  he  was  to  find  money  for  such  a  ran- 
som ;  and  Clisson  made  answer,  that  the  people  of  Bretagne 
would  make  little  objection  to  a  tallage  or  a  hearth-tax  for 
such  a  purpose.  "  Messire  Olivier,"  replied  the  duke,  "  my 
country  shall  not  be  so  taxed.  My  cousin  has  great  princes 
of  his  lineage — the  king  of  France  and  the  duke  of  Anjou — 
they  ought  to  aid  him,  for  they  supported  his  cause  in  the 
war  against  mine ;  and  when  I  swore  that  I  would  use  my 
endeavours  for  his  deliverance,  my  intention  was  that  the 
king  or  his  other  relations  should  pay  the  money,  and  that  I 
would  aid  with  my  words."* 

If  there  were  any  latent  enmityf  between  these  two  per- 
sons, such  a  representation  on  the  one  part,  and  such  an 
avowal  on  the  other,  were  sure  to  quicken  it.  The  constable, 
who  was  well  informed  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  England, 
believed  that  he  could  make  an  easy  composition  for  the  pri- 
soner, and  raise  his  own  family  by  so  doing  ;  accordingly  he 


»  Froissart,  iii.  50. 

t  "  Le  connesiable  de  France  ne  pouvoii  nuUement  aimer  le  due  de  Bre- 
caigne,  ni  le  due  luy  grant  temps  avant  quelque  semblant  qu'ils  se  monotras- 
sent."  When  the  English  eomplained  of  their  treatment  in  Bretagne — 
"bien  savoit  le  connesiable  que  telles  parolles  et  niurmurations,  estoient 
communement  entre  les  A'nglcis,  sur  le  due  de  Bretaigne ;  dont  il  n'estoit 
pas  courrouce,  car.  pour  un  mal  qu'on  disoit  de  luy,  il  vousist  autant  qu'on 
en  dist  douze."— Froissart,  iii.  50. 


JEAN  DE  BRETAGNE.  333 

sent  an  agent  over  to  communicate  with  Jean  de  Bretagne, 
and  ask  him  whether,  if  the  constable  procured  his  deliver- 
ance, he  would  engage  to  marry  his  daughter  1  To  this  a 
consent  was  given  as  readily  as  to  the  proposed  marriage 
with  the  lady  Philippa,  and  no  doubt  the  more  willingly,  be- 
cause the  proposal  was  clogged  with  no  conditions.  The 
more  delicate  part  of  the  transaction  was  easily  managed  by 
means  of  the  king  of  England's  favourite,  Robert  de  Vere, 
whom  he  had  successively  created  earl  of  Oxford,*  marquis 
of  Dublin,  and  duke  of  Ireland.  The  constable  offered  him 
30,000  marks  ;  and  at  the  king's  earnest  instance,  parliament 
authorized  the  bargain,  and  made  a  formal  grant  of  this  sum 
to  the  favourite,  on  condition  that,  being  furnished  with  this 
money,  he  should  pass  over  into  Ireland  before  the  next  Eas- 
ter, there  to  recover  such  lands  as  the  king  had  given  him. 
For  as  well  the  lords  as  the  commons  were  so  desirous  to 
have  him  gone,  that  they  wished  the  realm  rather  to  spare  so 
much  treasure  than  to  have  his  presence  about  the  king." 
Here,  then,  was  what,  in  modern  language,  is  called  a  job, 
which  had  the  rare  fortune  that  it  pleased  the  public  as  well 
as  all  the  other  parties  concerned  :  the  nobles  who  were  dis- 
contented with  Richard's  government  had  the  satisfaction  of 
sending  his  favourite  into  a  sort  of  exile ;  the  nation  thought 
itself  well  rid  of  an  unpopular  minion ;  Richard  was  gratified 
by  obtaining  such  a  grant  for  his  friend  ;  the  duke  of  Ireland 
had  the  money  which  he  wanted ;  Jean  de  Bretagne  obtained 
his  liberty  after  five-and-thirty  years'  captivity  in  a  foreign 
land  ;  and  the  constable  effected  for  his  daughter  an  ambi- 
tious niarriage,  after  his  own  heart's  desire — however  it  may 
have  accorded  with  hers. 

A  more  important  consequence,  which  no  one  had  antici- 
pated, resulted.  This  transaction  averted  from  England  an 
invasion,  which,  though  prepared  upon  no  great  scale,  would 
certainly  have  inflicted  great  evil,  and  might  possibly,  in  the 
disordered  state  of  the  country,  have  obtained  sufficient  suc- 
cess to  have  drawn  after  it  more  formidable  forces.  The 
duke  of  Bretagne  had  hoped  that  his  kinsman  might  die  a 
prisoner,  and  that  the  claims  of  Charles  de  Blois  would  die 
with  him  :  he  saw  him  now  enlarged,  and  connected  by  mar- 
riage with  the  most  powerful  person  in  that  dutchy,  and  in- 
deed, so  far  as  personal  ability  and  reputation  constituted 
power,  in  France ;  and  if  the  English  should  take  up  his 
cause,  for  which  he  was  conscious  that  he  had  given  them 

*  Of  all  the  metamorphoses  which  English  names  have  underigone  in 
French,  I  do  not  recollect  any  one  that  has  a  stranger  appearance  than  that 
of  Oxford  into  AcquessulTort,  which  is  Proissart's  way  of  writing  it. 


334  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

sufficient  provocation,  he  apprehended  the  greatest  danger  to 
himself.*  He  cast  about,  therefore,  how  to  prevent  this 
danger,  and  at  the  same  time  render  such  a  service  to  Eng- 
land as  should  make  amends  for  his  late  conduct.  "  He 
knew  well,"  says  Froissart,  "  that  the  man  in  the  world 
whom  Englishmen  most  hated  was  sir  Olivier  de  Clisson, 
constable  of  France;  for,  indeed,  sir  Olivier  de  Clisson  ever 
studied  night  and  day  how  he  might  do  displeasure  to  the 
English."  This  armament  had  been  by  him  planned ;  he 
had  directed  the  preparations,  and  by  him  it  was  to  be  com- 
manded. The  duke  considered,  therefore,  that  nothing  could 
so  certainly  gratify  the  English,  and  recover  for  him  their 
good  will,  and  show  at  the  same  time  that  he  made  no  great 
account  of  the  love  and  favour  of  the  French,  eis  to  break  up 
the  expedition  ;  and  this  he  might  do,  not  by  prohibiting  the 
Bretons  to  take  part  in  it,  but  more  surely  and  safely  by 
seizing  the  constable  or  slaying  him.  "  In  this  purpose  he 
settled  himself,  and  rested."+ 

To  eflFect  this  treacherous  mtent  he  summoned  his  council 
to  meet  him  at  Vannes,  and  the  constable  among  them, 
especially  requiring  him  in  his  letters  not  to  fail  in  his  at- 
tendance, and  saying,  "  he  should  gladlier  see  him  than  any 
other."  He  came  accordingly :  the  council  met,  and  de- 
bated at  length  upon  many  affairs,  only  the  armament  was 
not  touched  on;  that  being  an  affair  of  which  the  duke,  as 
still  in  alliance  with  England,  was  supposed  to  take  no  cog- 
nisance. The  duke  entertained  them  that  day  at  dinner,  and 
"  fed  them  afterwards  with  fair  loving  words  till  it  was  near 
night."  The  constable  then  invited  the  knights  and  squires 
of  Bretagne  to  dine  with  him  on  the  morrow  :  some  did  so, 
and  some  departed  to  their  own  homes,  to  take  leave  of  their 
wives  and  parents ;  for  his  intention  was,  as  soon  as  he  de- 
parted from  Vannes,  to  go  straight  to  the  fleet  and  embark 
forthwith.  Most  of  the  lords  of  the  country  were  at  this  din- 
ner :  unexpectedly  the  duke  joined  them.  Upon  his  entrance, 
"  every  man,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  rose,  as  reason  was, 
and  sweetly  received  him,  as  they  ought  to  do  their  lord ; 
and  he  demeaned  himself  right  courteously,  and  took  his  seat 
with  them,  and  ate  and  drank  for  good  company,  and  showed 
them  greater  semblance  of  love  than  he  had  ever  done  be- 

*  Froissart  makes  him  soliloquise  thus : — "  Voire  !  me  cuide  messire 
Olivier  de  Clisson  mettre  hors  de  n)on  heritage  ?  II  en  monstre  bien  les 
signiAanccs.  II  a  mis  bors  de  prison  Jehan  de  Bretaigne,  et  luy  a  donn6 
sa  fille  par  manage.  Telles  choses  rae  sont  moult  fort  deplaisantes;  mais 
par  Dieu,  je  luy  remonstreray,  un  jour  qui  viendra,  qu'il  n'a  pas  bien  fait, 
quand  il  s'en  donnera  le  moins  de  garde." — iii.  50. 

t  Froissart,  iii.  €4. 


LISSON  TREACHEROUSLY  SEIZED.  335 

fore.  And  he  said  to  them,  '  Fair  sirs,  my  friends  and  com- 
panions, God  send  you  well  to  go,  and  well  to  return,  and 
give  you  joy,  and  that  you  may  do  such  deeds  of  arms  as 
may  please  yourselves,  and  be  honourable  to  you  all.' 
Greatly  were  they  pleased  that  he  had  come  thus  affably  to 
visit  them,  and  take  leave  of  them  at  their  departure."* 

The  duke  had  built  a  castle  called  Ermine,  near  Vannes : 
it  was  nearly  finished  al  this  time ;  and  he  invited  the  con- 
stable, with  his  brother-in-law,  the  sire  de  Laval,  the  sire  de 
Beaumanoir,  and  others,  to  come  with  him  and  see  it — what 
he  had  done  there,  and  what  he  designed  to  do.  Most  of  them 
mounted  their  horses  and  rode  thither  with  him.  When  they 
arrived  at  the  castle,  the  duke  led  them  from  chamber  to 
chamber,  and  from  building  to  building,  and  made  them  drink 
in  the  cellar.  At  last  he  brought  them  to  the  keep,  leading  the 
constable  by  the  hand  ;  and  stopping  at  the  entrance  of  the 
door,  he  said  to  him,  "  Sir  Olivier,  there  is  no  man  on  this 
side  the  sea  that  understands  works  of  masonry  better  than 
you  ;  I  pray  you,  fair  sir,  go  up,  and  tell  me  what  you  think 
of  the  building  of  this  tower.  If  it  likes  you,  I  shall  be 
satisfied:  if  any  thing  be  amiss,  it  shall  be  reformed."  The 
constable,  who  thought  no  ill,  replied,  "  I  will  go  willingly, 
sir;  please  you  to  lead  the  way." — "No,"  said  the  duke, 
"  go  i'y  yourself,  and  I  will  talk  here  the  while  with  the  sire 
de  Laval."  The  constable  then  went  up  the  stairs  :  when 
he  had  gone  past  the  first  story,  armed  men,  who  had  been 
concealed  in  a  chamber,  appeared  from  it ;  some  of  them 
went  down  and  bolted  the  door  below ;  others  seized  him, 
led  him  into  an  apartment  on  the  upper  story,  and  there  fet- 
tered him  with  three  chains — and  then  asked  pardon  for  what 
they  had  done,  saying,  "  they  must  needs  obey  the  orders  of 
their  lord  the  duke." 

When  the  sire  de  Laval,  being  beneath  at  the  stair-foot, 
saw  the  door  closed,  and  heard  it  bolted,  his  blood  began  to 
tremble,  and  looking  at  the  duke,  who  "  waxed  pale  and 
green  as  a  leaf,"  he  knew  that  the  matter  went  amiss.  "  Ah, 
sir,"  he  cried,  "  mercy,  for  God's  sake !  take  no  evil  will 
against  my  brother-in-law  the  constable !" — "  Sire  de  Laval," 
was  the  reply,  "  take  your  horse  and  depart :  you  may  go  if 
you  will ;  I  know  well  what  I  have  to  do." — "  Sir,"  replied 
Laval,  "  I  will  never  go  hence  without  my  brother-in-law." 
At  these  words,  the  sire  de  Beaumanoir  came  up,  and  he  also 
asked  for  the  constable.  The  duke,  who  had  a  hatred  towards 
him  also,  drew  his  dagger,  and  said  to  him,  "  Beaumanoir, 

*  Froissart,  iii.  65. 


336  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

wilt  thou  be  in  the  same  point  as  thy  master  1" — "  Sir,"  he 
replied,  "  I  trust  my  master  is  in  good  case  !" — "  I  demand 
of  thee,"  the  duke  answered,  "  if  thou  choosest  to  be  in  the 
like  case  ?" — "  Ay,  sir,"  said  Beaumanoir  ; — upon  which 
the  duke,  taking  his  dagger  by  the  point,  said,  "  If  this  be  thy 
choice,  it  behoveth  thee  then  to  put  out  one  of  thine  eyes  !" 
Beaumanoir  then,  seeing  how  "  green  he  looked,"  knelt  on 
one  knee  to  him,  and  said,  "  Sir,  I  hold  there  is  so  much 
goodness  and  nobleness  in  you,  that  if  it  please  God,  you 
will  do  us  nothing  but  right.  We  are  come  here  at  your  bid- 
ding ;  do  not  dishonour  yourself  to  accomplish  any  ill  will 
against  us,  if  such  you  have,  for  that  would  be  too  strange  a 
thing." — "  Go  to,"  replied  the  duke,  "  thou  shalt  fare  neither 
better  nor  worse  than  he !"  so  he  was  taken  into  another 
chamber  which  had  been  assigned  for  that  purpose,  and  there 
fettered  with  three  chains.  "  If  he  were  then  dismayed,  it 
was  not  without  sufficient  cause  ;  for  he  perceived  well  that 
the  duke  loved  him  but  little,  and  the  constable  as  ill. 

Anon  tidings  passed  through  the  castle,  and  through  the 
town,  that  the  constable  and  the  sires  de  Beaumanoir  and  La- 
val were  taken  prisoners,  but  that  Laval  might  depart  at  his 
will,  for  the  duke  had  no  quarrel  against  him  :  touching  the 
other  two,  the  opinion  was  that  the  duke  would  put  both  to 
death,  he  hated  them  so  mortally.  "  Then  was  the  duke 
greatly  blamed  of  all  knights  and  squires  that  heard  thereof:" 
they  said  "  there  was  never  a  greater  defamation  on  any 
prince,  than  there  was  now  on  the  duke  of  Bretagne.  He 
invited  the  constable  to  dine  with  him,  and  the  constable 
went ;  after  this  he  went  to  visit  him  at  his  lodging,  and 
drank  of  his  wine,  and  asked  him  to  go  with  him  and  look  at 
his  building,  and  then  he  seized  him  there.  Never  weis  such 
a  thing  heard  of ;  he  was  entirely  infamed  ;  and  never  was 
man  more  dishonoured.  No  man  will  ever  again  put  trust 
in  any  great  prince,  seeing  that  the  duke  has  by  such  crooked 
and  deceitful  ways  entrapped  these  brave  men.  What  will 
the  king  of  France  say,  when  he  shall  hear  the  news,  and 
that  his  expedition  is  broken  up  1  Now  hath  the  duke  shown 
openly  that  he  is  English,  and  will  hold  the  king  of  Eng- 
land's part,  when  he  hath  thus  broken  up  the  army  that 
should  have  gone  against  England.  What  ought  the  knights 
and  squires  of  this  dutchy  to  do  when  they  shall  hear  this  1 
what,  but  incontinent  to  leave  their  houses,  and  lay  siege  to 
the  castle  of  Ermine,  and  there  beleaguer  the  duke  till  they 
take  him  alive  or  dead,  and  then  carry  him  like  a  false  prince 
and  a  disloyal  to  the  king  of  France,  and  deliver  him  into 
his  hands  ?"    This  was  the  language  of  knights  and  squires 


CLISSON  THREATENED  WITH  DEATH.  337 

in  the  market-place  of  Vannes,  and  of  the  lords  who  had 
attended  the  duke's  parliament.  Most  of  them  verily  thought 
that  the  prisoners  would  be  put  to  death ;  others  said  that 
the  sire  de  Laval  would  prevent  it  ;  for  he  was  so  wise  a 
man,  and  so  prudent,  that  he  would  dissuade  the  duke  from 
such  wrong. 

Laval,  indeed,  gave  good  proof  of  his  wisdom  in  remain- 
ing with  the  duke :  three  times  in  the  course  of  that  night 
the  constable  was  unfettered  and  brought  forth  to  be  put  to 
death ;  once  the  duke  was  for  beheading  him,  and  twice  for 
having  him  drowned ;  and  to  one  of  these  deaths  he  would 
have  been  put,  if  Laval  had  not  knelt  before  the  duke,  weep- 
ing, and  with  uplifted  hands,  at  once  entreating  and  reasoning 
with  him.  "  Ah,  sir,"  he  said,  "  for  God's  sake,  mercy !  ad- 
vise yourself,  and  use  no  such  cruelty  upon  my  brother-in- 
law;  he  can  in  no  way -have  deserved  death.  Of  your  grace 
I  beseech  you  to  tell  what  it  is  that  moves  you  to  be  so 
grievously  incensed  against  him !  I  swear  to  you,  that  for 
any  misdeed  which  he  hath  done  toward  you  he  shall  make 
such  amends  with  liis  body  and  goods,  or  I  for  him,  or  both 
of  us  together,  as  you  yourself  shall  determine  and  think  suf- 
ficient. Remember,  sir,  for  the  love  of  God,  how  in  your 
youth  you  were  brought  up  together  in  the  duke  of  Lancaster's 
house,  that  loyal  and  gentle  prince.  Mercy,  sir,  for  God's 
sake  !  Call  to  mind  how  faithfully  he  served  you  before  he 
made  his  peace  with  the  king  of  France  !  and  how  he  aided 
you  to  recover  your  heritage,  and  how  you  ever  found  in  him 
good  support  and  good  counsel.  Though  you  be  now  moved 
against  him,  he  hath  not  deserved  death." — "  Sire  de  Laval," 
the  duke  replied,  "  lot  me  do  my  will,  for  Clisson  has  often 
displeased  me,  and  it  is  now  time  that  I  should  show  him  my 
displeasure  :  go  you  your  way ;  I  ask  nothing  of  you,  and  let 
me  show  my  cruelty,  for  I  will  that  he  shall  die."  The  dili- 
gence of  the  great  chronicler  of  those  times  in  collecting  infor- 
mation was  such,  and  his  opportunities  so  good,  that  he  may 
not  unlikely  have  reported  here  the  substance  of  the  words 
which  really  were  used ;  but  even  if  the  dialogue  be  as  ficti- 
tious as  that  of  a  drama,  it  faithfully  represents  the  character 
and  feeling  of  the  age,  and  of  the  individuals ;  for  Froissart 
passed  his  life  in  the  society  which  he  so  admirably  de- 
scribes.*    "  Ah,  sir,"  the  sire  de  Laval  made  answer,  "  for 

*  The  chapter  in  which  lie  relates  how  he  obtained  all  the  particulars  of 
this  transaction,  begins  with  this  characteristic  passage : — "  On  me  pourroit 
demander  qui  voudroit,  dont  telles  choses  me  viennent  u  savoir,  pour  parler 
si  proprement,  et  so  vivement.  Je  lespondroye  ;i  ceux  qui  m'en  demande- 
royent,  qui  grande  cure  et  grande  diligence  j'ay  mis  en  mon  temps,  pour  le 

Vol.  L  2  F 


338  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND, 

God's  sake  have  mercy;  refrain  yourself;  moderate  a  little 
your  courage,  and  regard  reason.  If  you  put  him  to  death, 
never  was  prince  so  dishonoured  as  you  will  be.  There  will 
he  in  Bretagne  neither  knight  nor  esquire,  city  nor  castle,  nor 
good  town,  nor  any  man  whatsoever,  that  will  not  hate  you 
to  the  death,  and  do  their  utmost  to  disherit  you.  The  king 
of  England  and  his  council  will  give  you  no  thanks.  Will 
you  thus  lose  yourself  for  the  sake  of  taking  away  the  life  of 
one  man  1  For  God's  sake  take  some  better  imagination  :  it 
is  too  great  dishonour  to  put  to  death  so  great  a  baron  and 
so  gentle  a  knight  as  the  sire  de  Clisson ;  it  would  be  a  trea- 
son and  a  reproach  here,  and  before  God,  and  through  the 
whole  world.  He  came  here  at  your  bidding,  he  drank  of 
your  wine,  and  he  did  whatever  you  asked  him  to  do.  Was 
this  great  love  shown  him  that  you  might  put  him  to  death  % 
Never  so  great  reproach  came  upon  any  lord  as  will  be 
brought  upon  you,  if  you  do  this  thing.  All  the  world  will 
reproach  5'^ou,  and  hat€  you,  and  war  upon  you.  I  will  tell 
you  what  you  shall  do,  since  you  hate  him  so  much.  You 
shall  put  him  to  ransom  for  a  great  sum  of  florins ;  this  you 
may  well  do.  And  if  he  hold  any  town  or  castle  that  should 
be  yours,  demand  them  of  him,  and  you  shall  have  them. 
Whatever  covenant  you  make  with  him,  I  will  be  pledge  for 
it  on  his  part." 

Laval  never  left  the  duke  during  the  whole  night,  but  still 
kept  close  to  him ;  and  when  he  made  this  proposal,  it 
wrought  upon  the  duke,  and  made  him  somewhat  refrain  his 
evil  will.  At  last  he  said,  "  Sire  de  Laval,  you  have  been 
a  good  mean  for  him,  and  T  would  have  you  know  that  the 
sire  de  Clisson  is  the  man  in  the  world  whom  1  most  hate, 
and  if  you  had  not  been  here  he  should  not  have  escaped 
death  this  night:  your  words  have  saved  him.  Go  to  him, 
and  demand  if  he  will  pay  me  100,000  franks,  incontinently. 
I  will  neither  have  you,  nor  any  other  to  pledge,  but  the 

sa voir,  et  ay  cherch6  maint  royaiime,  et  maint  pais,  pour  faire  jiiBte  enqueste 
de  loutes  les  choses,  qui  cydessussnnt  contenues  en  reste  histoire,  el  qui 
au3si  en  apres  descendronl.  Car  Dieu  ine  donna  la  grace  et  le  loisir  d'en 
veoiren  mon  temps  la  greigneur  partie,  et  I'avoir  la  cognoissance  des  haux 
princes  et  seigneurs,  tanten  France  comme  en  Angleterre.  Car  sachezqui 
i'an  de  grace  mil,troi8  ccns,  quatre  vingtret  dix,  j'y  avoyelaboure  trenteet 
sept  ans,  et  a  ce  jour  j'avoye  d'age  cinquante  et  sept  ans.  Si  peut  un  homme 
beaucoup  veoir  et  apprendre  durant  le  terme  detrente  sept  ans,  quand  il  est 
en  sa  force,  et  qu'il  est  bien  de  toutes  parties.  Or  fu-je,  des  ma  jeunesse, 
cinq  ans  de  I'hostel  du  roy  d' Angleterre  et  de  la  royne  ;  et  si  fu  bien  venu  en 
I'hostel  de  Jehan  roy  de  France,  et  du  roy  Charles  son  fits.  Si  peu  bien,  sur 
tel  terme,  apprendre  et  concevoir  moult  de  choses ;  et  pour  certain,  c'6stoit  la 
greigneur  imagination  et  plaisance  que  j'avoye,  que  tous  jours  enquerir 
avant,  et  du  relenir,  et  tantost  escrire,  comme  j'en  avoye  fait  les  enquestes  " 
— iii.  75. 


CLISSON  COMPLAINS  TO  THE  KING.  339 

ready  money ;  and  then  if  he  will  moreover  put  me  in  pos- 
session of  castles  Brot,  Josselin,  and  Le  Blanc,  and  the 
town  of  Jugon,  that  done,  I  will  deliver  him  to  you."  Laval 
thanked  the  duke  for  thus  yielding  to  his  entreaties,  and 
readily  undertook  that  his  brother-in-law  should  consent  to 
these  terms ;  Clisson  consented  to  them  before  he  knew 
what  they  were,  and  asked  Laval  to  go  and  raise  the  money, 
and  see  that  the  places  were  given  up.  "  That  will  I  not 
do,"  replied  Laval,  "  nor  ever  depart  from  this  castle  till  I 
take  you  with  me  ;  for  the  duke  is  right  cruel,  and  if  I  were 
absent  he  might  repent  of  what  he  has  agreed  to,  upon  some 
vain  thought  or  information  that  he  may  have  against  you, 
and  then  all  would  be  broken."  They  agreed  that  Beau- 
manoir  should  go,  who  was  released  accordingly  from  his 
chains,  and  was  despatched  with  letters  from  the  constable 
authorizing  what  was  to  be  done.  The  whole  country  was 
by  this  in  commotion ;  and  if  they  had  not  now  been  assured 
by  Beaumanoir  that  the  constable's  life  was  safe,  the  knights 
and  squires  of  Bretagne,  assembled  as  they  were  for  the  ex- 
pedition against  England, — all  thought  of  which  was  at  once 
abandoned, — would  presently  have  besieged  the  duke  in  his 
castle.  The  armament  at  Treguier  dispersed  without  waiting 
for  orders  ;  that  at  Harfleur  was  kept  together  only  for  a  few 
days,  till  it  should  be  seen  whether  it  would  be  necessary  to 
march  against  the  duke.  The  places  were  given  up,  the 
money  paid ;  Clisson  was  then  set  at  liberty ;  and,  going 
with  all  speed  to  Paris,  he  made  his  complaint  to  the  king, 
telling  him  how  greatly  this  wrong  affected  his  royal  ma- 
jesty, and  how  it  had  entirely  broken  up  the  expedition  on 
which  he  had  been  ordered.  "  Your  father,"  said  he, 
"  whom  God  pardon,  made  me  constable  of  France,  which 
office  I  have  to  my  power  well  and  truly  exercised  ;  and  if 
there  be  any,  your  grace  and  my  lords  your  uncles  alone 
excepted,  who  will  say  that  I  have  not  acquitted  myself 
truly,  or  have  done  any  thing  contrary  to  the  crown  of  France, 
I  am  here  ready  to  throw  down  my  gage  in  that  quarrel. 
But  this  wrong  having  been  done  me  when  I  was  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  my  office,  I  here  yield  it  up :  provide,  sirs,  another 
constable,  such  as  shall  please  you.  I  will  no  longer  bear 
the  charge  thereof;  I  should  have  no  honour  in  bearing  it !" 
The  king  raised  him  up,  assured  him  that  the  peers  of  France 
should  immediately  be  assembled  upon  this  matter,  and  that 
justice  should  be  done  him:  "  Constable,"  he  added,  "we 
will  not  that  you  depart  from  your  office  in  this  manner,  but 
that  ye  use  it  till  we  take  farther  counsel."  The  constable 
knelt  down  again,  and  replied,  "  Sir,  this  matter  touched  mo 


340  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

SO  near,  that  I  cannot  use  it :  the  office  is  great ;  for  I  must 
speak  with  and  answer  every  man,  and  I  am  so  troubled, 
that  I  can  answer  no  man :  wherefore  I  request  your  grace  to 
provide  another  for  a  season,  and  I  shall  always  be  ready  at 
your  command." 

The  king  had  manifested  towards  him  the  generous  feel- 
ing of  a  young  and  noble  mind  ;  but  when  the  constable 
went  to  prefer  his  complaint  before  the  dukes  of  Berry  and 
Burgundy,  as  governors  of  the  realm,  he  perceived  that  their 
feelings  were  not  so  soon  moved  ;  they  appeared  less  dis- 
posed to  resent  the  wrong  which  he  had  received,  than  to 
censure  him  for  having  gone  to  Vannes  upon  the  duke's 
summons.  He  replied  it  was  a  summons  from  which  he 
could  not  excuse  himself :  but  to  this  the  duke  of  Burgundy 
properly  made  answer,  that  he  might  have  done  so,  because 
his  fleet  was  ready,  and  the  expedition  waiting  for  him. 
"  Moreover,"  he  said,  "  when  the  parliament  was  over,  and 
you  had  dined  with  him,  and  returned  to  your  own  hotel,  and 
all  had  gone  well,  what  business  had  you  to  make  any  longer 
tarriance,  or  to  go  to  his  castle  of  I'Erminer' — "  Monseign- 
eur,"  replied  Clisson,  "  he  showed  me  such  fair  semblances 
that  I  durst  not  refuse  him." — "  Constable,"  said  the  duke, 
"  in  fair  semblances  are  great  deceptions.  I  thought  you 
more  subtle  than  you  are.  But  go  your  way  :  the  matter 
shall  be  well  settled  :  we  will  look  to  it  at  leisure."  This 
treatment  was  so  much  "  harder  and  ruder"  than  what  he 
had  met  with  from  the  king,  that  Clisson  thought  they  were 
ill  disposed  towards  him ;  and  under  that  persuasion,  he  re- 
tired to  his  own  lands,  to  abide  the  issue,  the  important 
office  of  constable  remaining  void.  Their  conduct,  however, 
proceeded  from  a  different  motive.  France  had  just  received 
a  declaration  of  war,  couched  in  the  haughtiest  terms,  from 
the  duke  of  Gelderland,  who  found  it  for  his  interest  at  that 
time  to  enter  into  alliance  with,  and  receive  a  subsidy  from, 
England.  No  doubt  was  entertained  that  the  hostilities 
thus  unexpectedly  announced  were  designed  to  favour  an 
invasion  by  the  English ;  and  such  a  project  the  French 
statesmen  knew  would  accord  equally  with  the  interest  of 
the  English  government  and  the  inclination  of  the  people. 
The  state  of  society  in  that  age  was  such,  that  no  country, 
unless  it  were  engaged  in  foreign  war,  could  hope  to  be  free 
from  domestic  troubles;  and  this  was  peculiarly  the  case 
with  England,  which,  when  it  carried  the  war  into  an 
enemy's  country,  was,  by  reason  of  its  inst^ir  situation, 
safe.  Richard  II.  was  not  so  weak  a  prince  but  that  he  saw 
this  was  the  best  means  of  employing  men  who  would  other- 


THE  ENGLISH  EAGER  FOR  WAR.         341 

wise  endanger  his  throne :  it  accorded  with  the  feelings  in 
which  his  ambitious  uncles  had  been  trained  up ;  and  the 
threatened  invasion  from  Sluys  had  called  forth  a  cry  in  the 
nation,  in  which,  though  it  has  been  ascribed  to  "  such  as 
loved  evil  rule  rather  than  good,"  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
many  a  brave  English  spirit  generously  united.  "  Where 
be  now,"  it  was  said,  "  those  great  enterprises,  and  those 
valiant  men  of  England,  that  were  in  the  days  of  king  Ed- 
ward, and  of  the  prince  his  son  ]  Then  wc  were  wont  to 
enter  France  in  such  guise,  that  none  durst  make  battle  with 
us,  or  if  they  did,  they  were  soon  discomfited.  Oh,  what  a 
deed  was  that  when  that  noble  king  Edward  discomfited 
king  Philip  and  all  the  power  of  France  at  Cressy;  and 
when  the  Black  Prince  took  the  French  king  John,  and  dis- 
comfited his  puissance,  at  Poictiers,  with  a  handful  of  people, 
against  the  numbers  that  king  John  had  with  him  !  In  those 
days,  England  was  feared  everywhere,  and  we  were  spoken 
of,  through  all  the  world,  for  the  flower  of  chivalry  ;  but 
now  no  man  speaketh  of  this.  The  king  in  France  is  but  a 
boy,  and  yet  he  hath  done  more  against  us  than  any  of  his 
predecessors,  and  hath  shown  great  courage  to  have  come 
into  England :  and  the  let  thereof  was  not  by  him.  The 
time  hath  been  that,  if  such  an  apparel  of  ships  had  been 
made  at  Sluys,  they  should  have  been  foiight  withal  in  the 
haven;  and  now  the  noblemen  of  England  are  joyful,  if 
they  may  sit  at  rest !  The  time  hath  been  when  great  con- 
quests have  been  made  in  France,  and  the  riches  gained  there 
were  spread  abroad  in  this  realm.  But  it  appeareth  well 
that  we  in  England  are  feebled  of  wits :  we  were  wont  to 
know  every  thing  that  the  French  intended  three  or  four 
months  beforehand,  whereby  we  had  time  to  provide  accord- 
ingly ;  but  now  our  counsels  are  known  by  them,  not  theirs 
by  us."*  This  was  the  language,  not  of  the  common  people 
only,  but  of  knights  and  squires  ;  of  those  alike  who  thirsted 
for  honourable  employment,  or  who  were  greedy  for  plun- 
der ;  and  the  feeling  became  dangerous,  because  there  went 
with  it  an  ignorant  persuasion,  that  the  glorious  wars  of  the 
preceding  reign  had  been  carried  on  without  any  extraordi- 
nary imposts  upon  the  people,  and  a  belief  that  they  suffered 
by  the  peculation  of  the  king's  ministers,  and  the  king  him- 
self by  their  treachery. 

Knowing  the  state  of  affairs  in  England,  the  French  rulers 
gave  the  English  government  credit  for  a  policy  which, 
under  like  circumstances,  they  would  have  pursued.     They 

*  Froissart,  iji.  C3. 
2f3 


342  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

knew  also  that  the  duke  of  Bretagne  had  applied  to  England 
for  support,  and  was  storing  all  his  strong  places,  and  levying 
troops.  For  these  reasons,  they  deemed  it  necessary  to  dis- 
semble their  deep  resentment  of  the  outrage  committed  upon 
the  constable  ;*  and  in  the  wisdom  of  this  course,  the  ad- 
miral and  the  sire  de  Coucy,  though  they  warmly  took  up  the 
constable's  cause,  agreed.  They  sent,  therefore,  his  kins- 
man, the  count  d'Estampes  ;  who,  under  pretext  of  making 
the  duke  a  friendly  visit,  was  to  assure  him,  that  the  king 
and  his  uncles  were  in  the  best  disposition  towards  him  ;  that 
it  would  be  much  for  his  honour  to  restore  the  constable's 
places,  which  he  had  taken  with  such  slight  cause  ;  and  that 
the  king  would  give  him,  in  exchange  for  them,  others  as 
good,  at  his  own  choice,  in  any  part  of  the  kingdom.  The 
count  watched  his  time,  and  insinuated  the  matter  of  his  em- 
bassy with  the  desired  address ;  but  the  only  reply  he  could 
obtain  was,  that  the  duke  would  think  about  it ;  and  that  he 
had  not  yet  sufficiently  considered  it.  After  a  fortnight's 
tarriance,  in  vain  expectation  of  a  favourable  answer,  the 
count  took  his  leave  ;  but,  to  show  that  he  had  been  no  un- 
welcome ambassador,  the  duke  presented  him  at  his  de- 
parture with  a  jewel  worth  1000  franks,  and  a  white  palfrey, 
with  trappings  fit  for  a  king.f  The  duke  of  Bretagne  had 
shown  no  want  of  courage  or  of  decision  in  his  conduct  till  he 
acted  dishonourably  :  that  crime  brought  with  it,  if  not  con- 
dign punishment,  secret  shame  and  miserable  irresolution. 
He  was  now  sensible  that  neither  France  nor  England  could 
ever  again  place  confidence  in  him  ;  that  if  France  were  in- 
clined to  deal  leniently  towards  him  respecting  his  late  out- 
rage, it  was  only  because  present  circumstances  rendered  it 
useful  to  conciliate  him  ;  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  though 
England  was  ready  to  assist  him,  none  of  that  feeling  would 
be  called  forth  in  English  hearts  which  had  manifested  itself 
so  gloriously  in  his  mother's  cause  and  in  his  own,  while  he 
was  without  reproach.  From  France  he  had  much  to  fear ; 
and  from  England  much  to  hope,  in  CEise  those  fears  should 
be  verified.  While,  therefore,  he  let  his  kinsman  return  to 
Paris  with  an  impression  that  he  might  be  induced  to  obey 
the  king's  will,  he  continued  his  preparations  for  defence, 
and  brought  over  most  of  the  great  towns  to  his  party,  though 
the  nobles  of  the  province  manifested  a  resentment  of  his 
conduct  which  he  was  not  likely  to  overcome.     He  procured 

*  "  Si  ne  vouloient  pas  les  nobles  du  royaume  de  France,  qui  le  royaume 
avoient  a  conseiller,  laisscr  telle  bruine  de  Bretaigne,  qu'elle  ne  fust  ab- 
battue,  ou  ost6e  aucunement,  par  bon  conduit  bon  incident,  pourquoy  le 
royaume  fust  hors  de  celle  doute." — FroUsart,  iii.  107. 

t  Froissart,  iii.  107. 


THE  DUKE  OF  BRETAGNE.  343 

a  promise  of  aid  from  the  young  king  of  Navarre,  engaging 
to  assist  him  in  recovering  the  family  possessions  in  Nor- 
mandy, which  France  had  conquered  from  his  father ;  and, 
distracted  with  factions  as  England  at  that  time  was,  his 
representations  there  were  deemed  of  such  weight,  that  the 
earl  of  Arundel  was  sent,  with  1000  men-at-arms  and  3000 
archers,  to  hover  off  the  coast,  and  land  whenever  opportunity 
should  be  ripe  for  them.* 

The  English  were  too  early  with  this  aid  :  it  had  the 
effect,  not  of  determining  the  duke  to  resist  the  king  of 
France's  authority,  but  of  confirming  the  French  princes  in 
their  purpose  of  temporizing  with  him,  strengthening  the 
opinion  of  those  who  dissuaded  the  king  from  marching 
against  the  duke  of  Gelderland,  and  drawing  attention  to  the 
coast.  Measures  were  taken  for  the  defence  of  Normandy ; 
and  Clisson,  acting  with  his  wonted  decision,  placed  garri- 
sons in  St.  Malo  and  St.  Matthieu  in  the  king's  name. 
These  important  places,  on  which  the  duke  had  counted, 
were  thus  secured  against  him ;  and  his  hope  of  co-operation 
from  the  king  of  Navarre  was  also  frustrated,  because  that 
project  had  depended  upon  the  support  to  be  derived  from 
John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster,  then  in  Spain :  but  this 
could  no  longer  be  expected,  because  that  ambitious  prince 
was  openly  treating  for  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  with  the 
duke  of  Berry.  Taking  advantage  of  this,  the  French  rulers 
sent  the  sire  de  Coucy,  the  sire  de  la  Riviere,  and  the  admi- 
ral Jehan  de  Vienne,  to  require  restitution  from  the  duke. 
Troubled  at  the  report  of  their  coming,  and  at  the  aspect  of 
his  affairs,  he  convoked  his  council,  and  they  gave  him  such 
advice  as  was  to  be  expected  from  upright  men  who  con- 
demned his  conduct.  The  projected  marriage  of  the  duke  of 
Berry  was  likely,  in  its  immediate  consequences,  to  lead  to 
a  peace  with  England,  or  at  least  a  long  truce.  It  was  evi- 
dent, by  the  choice  of  the  ambassadors,  that  the  king  of 
France  considered  this  business  a  weighty  one  ;  and  the  army 
wlilch  was  then  raising,  as  if  for  Gelderland,  might  be 
directed  against  him.  "What  in  that  case  could  he  do  ■?  His 
aid  fiom  Navarre  must  fail  with  the  change  in  the  duke  of 
Lancaster's  views.  The  English  had  enough  to  do  at  home, 
and  would  only  serve  him  when  by  so  doing  they  could 
serve  themselves :  this  he  ought  to  know,  for  he  had  expe- 
rienced it  before,  and  had  been  bred  among  them.  Moreover, 
the  better  part  of  the  prelates,  barons,  knights,  cities,  and 
good   towns  of  the  country,  were  all  against  him  in  this 

*  Froissart,  iii.  109.  Holinsbed,  ii.  796. 


344  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

matter.  "  We  tell,  you,"  said  they,  "  since  you  ask  our 
advice,  that  it  is  more  than  ever  time  for  you  to  bethink 
yourself;  and  take  means  for  preserving  that  inheritance 
which  has  cost  you  so  much  blood,  and  labour,  and  pain,  and 
to  abate  a  little  the  edge  of  your  hatred.  We  know  that  you 
hold  messire  Olivier  de  Clissou  in  great  hatred,  and  that  he 
has  often  grievously  offended  you,  as  you  have  him,  albeit  he 
is  not  your  peer.  But,  seeing  that  the  king  of  France  and 
the  king's  uncles,  and  the  barons  of  France,  take  up  his 
cause,  it  is  not  our  advice,  nor  would  it  be  that  of  any  man 
who  loves  you,  that  you  should  engage  in  war  against  the 
French.  What,  then,  is  to  be  done  with  those  castles  that 
you  have  taken  from  him  1  They  would  cost  you  more,  even 
in  peace,  to  keep  them,  in  three  years,  than  you  could  profit 
from  them  in  twelve.  If  you  restore  them  now,  simply,  and 
while  it  is  known — (for  nothing  can  be  done  but  what  is 
known) — that  you  do  it  amicably,  and  without  constraint, 
you  will  overcome  the  angry  will  of  many ;  and  the  duke  of 
Burgundy  will  render  you  all  the  service  he  can,  for  the  sake 
of  my  lady  of  Burgundy,  your  good  friend  and  cousin,  their 
children  being  those  who,  at  present,  are  nearest  to  you. 
Think  well  of  it,  therefore,  and  do  not  alienate  yourself  from 
those  towards  whom  you  ought  to  draw ;  for  this  would  be 
folly,  and  you  would  be  little  pitied  for  the  consequences." 

When  the  duke  had  heard  them  represent,  thus  reasonably, 
the  peril  in  which  he  stood,  he  was  greatly  abashed,  and 
remained  for  some  time  in  silence,  leaning  upon  a  window 
that  looked  into  the  court.  At  length  he  turned  to  them  and 
said,  "  Sirs,  I  believe  that  you  have  counselled  me  to  the 
best  of  your  power  :  and  there  is  nothing  but  good  counsel 
that  I  need.  But  how  may  perfect  love  be  nourished  where 
there  is  nothing  but  hatred]  How  can  I  love  Olivier  de 
Clisson,  who  hath  done  me  so  many  displeasures'?  The 
thing  in  the  world  of  which  I  most  repent  me  is,  that  I  did 
not  put  him  to  death  when  I  had  him  in  my  castle  of  I'Er- 
mine."  Upon  the  propriety  of  such  an  act,  or  of  such 
repentance,  they  offered  no  opinion.  "  He  ought  not  to  have 
ransomed  him,"  they  said,  "  nor  to  have  taken  his  castles. 
The  constable  hath  entered  his  quarrel  and  plea  against  you 
in  the  parliament  of  Paris ;  sentence  will  be  given  against 
you  there,  for  there  is  none  to  answer  for  you ;  then  he  and 
his  heirs  will  have  just  cause  to  make  war  upon  you  in  his 
own  right ;  and  if  the  king,  with  others  of  your  own  country, 
will  aid  him,  ye  will  need  to  have  more  power  for  defending 
yourself  than  you  are  like  to  have.  Wherefore,  while  the 
plea  is  depending,  it  is  better  for  you  to  deliver  up  the  castl&s 


THE  DUKE  OF  BRETAGNE.  345 

than  abide  the  sentence.  Agree,  sir,  as  well  as  you  can,  for 
such  damage  as  you  have  done ;  so  will  you  put  away  the 
scandal  of  the  people,  which  ought  greatly  to  be  feared  be- 
cause of  the  dishonour ;  and  so  will  you  bring  yourself  again 
into  a  state  of  peace  and  love,  such  as  beseems  you,  with  the 
king  of  France,  your  sovereign  and  natural  lord,  and  with  my 
lora  of  Burgundy,  and  your  cousins  his  children." — "  Well, 
replied  the  duke,  "  I  see  plainly,  that  since  I  have  asked 
counsel  it  behooveth  me  to  take  it.  I  will  do  as  ye  have 
advised."* 

The  places  were  given  up  accordingly  without  delay  to  the 
constable's  people  ;  but  the  duke's  humiliation  was  not  yet 
complete.  Restitution  of  the  money  which  he  had  exacted 
was  yet  to  be  made ;  and  it  was  determined  that  he  must 
present  himself  before  the  king  and  the  peers  of  France  at 
Paris,  to  make  his  excuse  before  them,  and  there  abide  such 
sentence  of  amends  as  they,  after  due  deliberation  in  council, 
might  think  proper  to  deliver.  Some  art,  however,  was  to  be 
used  for  effecting  this,  lest  they  should  provoke  him  to  a  re- 
sistance which  might  be  the  more  dangerous  after  he  had  so 
far  made  amends,  and  thereby  set  himself  right  in  the  opinion 
of  his  people.  The  three  barons,  therefore,  who  were  on 
their  way,  were  instructed  to  persuade  him  that  it  would  be 
sufficient  if  he  went  toBlois,  where,  beinghalf  way  to  Paris, 
the  dukes  of  Berry  and  Burgundy  would  meet  him.  He 
was  not  easily  induced  to  consent ;  and  when  at  length  he 
yielded  to  their  joint  opinion,  and  more  especially  to  the  art- 
ful management  of  the  sire  de  Coucy,  it  was  with  a  declared 
determination  that  he  would  go  no  farther;  and  the  sire  de 
Coucy  said  they  desired  nothing  more.  But  the  royal  dukes 
met  him  there  with  a  full  intention  that  he  should  proceed  to 
Paris,  whether  he  liked  it  or  not.  He  came  with  no  greater 
train  than  his  rank  required, — some  300  horse, — not  appre- 
hending that  any  violence  would  be  offered  him ;  after  what 
his  own  conduct  had  been,  he  could  reproach  no  one  for 
entrapping  him :  but  their  purpose  went  no  farther  than  that 
of  compelling  him  to  make  full  restitution,  and  the  most 
public  submission  to  the  king.  The  meeting  was  courteous  ; 
they  made  him  good  cheer,  and  thanked  him  for  having  taken 
the  trouble  of  coming  so  far ;  he,  on  his  part,  making  the  most 
of  the  fatigue,  and  saying  that,  to  show  his  love  for  them,  he 
had  performed  a  journey  which  nothing  else  could,  in  his 
state  of  health,  have  induced  him  to  undertake.  They  soon 
let  him  know  that  since  he  had  come  so  far,  and  was  there, 

*  FroiBsart,  iii.  113. 


346  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

it  was  doing  nothing  unless  he  went  on  to  Paris  to  pay  his 
respects  to  the  king,  who  was  most  desirous  of  seeing  him. 
From  this  he  would  full  fain  have  excused  himself.  "  He 
was  too  unwell,"  he  said,  "  for  such  a  journey  ;  neither  was 
he,  in  other  respects,  prepared  for  it,  having  left  Bretagne 
with  so  small  a  train,  and  with  the  intention  of  immediately 
returning  thither."  They,  on  the  other  hand,  more  courte- 
ously than  agreeably,  replied,  that,  "saving  his  pleasure,  too 
large  a  train  would  not  have  been  becoming  when  he  was 
going  to  the  presence  of  his  sovereign  lord  :  that  if  he  was 
not  well  enough  to  perform  the  journey  on  horseback,  they 
were  provided  with  chair*  or  litter,  in  which  he  might 
travel  more  easily ;  and  that  he  was  bound  to  do  homage, 
and  had  not  yet  performed  it."  Still  he  would  have  de- 
clined. "  When  the  king  should  be  of  age,"  he  said,  "  and 
have  taken  upon  himself  the  government,  then  he  would  go 
to  Paris,  or  whithersoever  else  the  king  might  please  to 
summon  him,  and  perform  homage  as  he  ought."  An  unte- 
nable argument  ever  weakens  the  cause  which  it  is  meant  to 
support.  The  royal  dukes  disposed  of  this  by  replying,  "  that 
the  king  was  of  sufficient  age  and  judgment  to  receive 
homage ;  that  all  the  other  lords  of  the  realm  who  held  under 
him  had  done  their  homage,  and  made  relief,  and  that  the 
king  was  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  age." 

Thus  pressed,  and  finding  that  no  excuse  would  be  admit- 
ted, the  humbled  duke  said,  "  Well,  sirs,  if  I  go  to  Paris  it 
will  be  greatly  against  my  will,  and  to  my  prejudice;  for 
messire  Olivier  de  Clisson  either  is  there,  or  will  come  there, 
and  I  neither  love  him  nor  ever  shall,  nor  he  me  ;  and  he  will 
assail  me  with  unpleasant  and  impetuous  words :  see,  now, 
what  great  mischiefs  may  ensue  !" — "  Nay,  nay,  fair  cousin," 
they  made  answer,  "  make  you  no  difficulty  on  that  score  ! 
we  will  swear  to  you,  solemnly  and  veritably,  that  you  shall 
neither  see  nor  speak  with  the  constable,  nor  Jehan  de  Bre- 
tagne, unless  you  wish  it ;  but  sec  the  king,  who  is  desirous 
of  seeing  you,  and  the  barons  and  knights  of  France,  who 
will  make  you  good  cheer :  and  when  you  have  done  that 
for  which  you  go  thither,  you  shall  return  without  peril  and 
without  hurt."  In  reliance  upon  their  word  and  oath,  which 
were  sincerely,  pledged,  he  consented  to  what  he  plainly  felt 
he  had  no  power  of  refusing.  To  Paris  accordingly  he  pro- 
ceeded; and  having  slept  the  preceding  night  at  Bourg-la- 
Royne,  entered  it  in  full  state  the  following  morning  at  ten 

*  Chair  ia  the  word  used  by  lord  Berners ;  the  original  ia  ckar.  Some 
Bort  of  chair  or  palanquin  ia  more  likely  than  any  kind  of  wheeled  carriage 
tbat  could  then  have  been  in  use, 


HUMILIATION  OF  THE  DUKE.  347 

o'clock.  It  was  Sunday,  so  that  everybody  was  at  leisure  to 
behold  an  entrance  which  had  occasioned  much  talk  and 
much  expectation  ;  every  one  being  desirous  of  seeing  the 
person  who  had  seized  and  put  in  danger  so  great  a  person- 
age as  the  constable  of  France.  He  rode  to  the  Louvre,  and 
there  alighted,  having  been  duly  instnicted  as  to  the  cere- 
mony which  he  was  to  perform.  The  great  lords  who  were 
of  his  kin,  or  of  his  council,  accompanied  him  :  there  was  a 

freat  press  to  see  him ;  and  the  hall  into  which  he  was  intro- 
uced,  and  in  which  the  tables  were  spread  for  the  king's 
dinner,  is  described  as  being  but  small.  The  king  was 
standing  before  the  table,  and  his  uncles  of  Berry,  Burgundy, 
and  Bourbon,  beside  him.  As  soon  as  the  duke  entered,  the 
way  was  opened  for  him,  every  man  on  one  side  or  the 
other  making  place,  that  nothing  might  intercept  their  view 
of  each  other.  First,  the  duke  knelt  on  one  knee,  then  rose ; 
passed  on  some  ten  or  twelve  paces,  then  knelt  a  second  time ; 
arose  again,  and  advanced  till  he  came  before  the  king,  when 
he  knelt  for  the  third  time,  bareheaded,  and  saluted  the  king, 
saying,  "  Sire,  I  am  come  to  see  you ;  God  maintain  your 
prosperity  !" — "  Graraercy,"  the  king  replied,  "  we  have  a 
great  desire  to  see  you,  and  we  will  sec  and  speak  with  you 
at  leisure."  So  saying  he  took  him  by  the  arm  and  made 
him  rise.  The  duke  then  inclined  himself  to  all  the  princes 
who  were  present,  one  after  another,  and  then  remained  stand- 
ing before  the  king,  and  in  silence,  the  king  looking  on  him 
steadily.  A  sign  was  then  made  that  the  maitre  d'hdtel 
should  bring  the  water,  and  the  duke  put  his  hand  to  the  ba- 
sin and  towel  while  the  king  washed  :  this  done,  he  was 
reconducted  to  the  court,  where  his  horses  stood,  and  so 
went  to  his  lodging. 

In  the  interviews  which  he  afterwards  had  with  the  king 
and  his  uncles,  all  passed  off  well :  the  promise  which  had 
been  made  to  him  concerning  the  constable  and  Jehan  de 

Bretagne  was  faithfully  kept.  As  long  as  he  was  in  Paris, 
they  knew  that  nothing  serious  would  be  attempted  by  the 

English;  and  in  Paris  they  were  determined  to  keep  him  as 
long  as  they  thought  fit,  not  by  imposing  any  forcible  re- 
straint upon  him,  but  by  the  forms  of  law  attendant  upon 
the  process  that  was  instituted  against  him,  and  which 
might  be  indefinitely  prolonged.*     While,  therefore,  he  was 

•  "  Or  le  roy  de  France  se  departit  de  Paris,  qiiand  on  eut  parlement^  et 
Iraittt'  auciinimient  an  due  du  Firelaigne,  et  nonipas  encores  lout  acconiply ; 
car  la  court  du  roy  dc  Fiance  est  moult  longue,  quand  on  vcut ;  et  tres  bien 
on  y  fait  teuir  lea  gens,  et  faire  le  leur  despendre,  et  petitement  besongner." 
— Froissarl,  iii.  116. 


348  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

treated  with  all  marks  of  respect,  he  had  this  mortification  to 
endure.  How  long  he  was  thus  detained  is  not  stated ;  but 
when  all  purposes  of  policy  had  been  answered,  and  it  was 
thought  that  he  had  been  sufficiently  humiliated,  the  king  sent 
for  him  to  Montereau  sur  Yonne,  where  he  was  received  with 
the  same  courtesy,  and  the  final  adjustment  was  made.  The 
sum  which  he  had  extorted  from  the  constable  had  been  ex- 
pended in  storing  and  garrisoning  his  strong  places,  and  in 
raising  foreign  troops  for  designs  which  had  now  been  frus- 
trated. Present  payment  was  not  in  his  power ;  it  was  agreed, 
therefore,  that  he  should  repay  it  by  instalments  of  a  fifth 
part  annually  for  five  years  This  having  been  settled,  he 
was  well  entertained,  and  dismissed  with  presents  of  jewels 
by  the  king;  after  which,  having  discharged  his  heavy  costs 
at  Paris,  he  returned  into  his  own  country,  there  to  chew  the 
bitter  cud — not  of  repentance,  which  had  been  wholesome, 
but  of  humiliation  and  of  hatred.* 

Arundel,  meantime,  with  the  English  fleet,"}"  kept  hover- 
ing off  the  coasts  of  Normandy  and  Bretagne,  in  expectation 
of  advice  from  the  duke  when  and  where  to  land  When 
the  season  advanced,  and  they  deemed  it  certain  that  their 
summons  could  not  long  be  delayed,  they  came  to  anchor  off 
an  island  on  the  Breton  coast :  and  when  they  had  lain  there 
more  than  a  month,  obtained  intelligence  at  last  that  the 
duke  had  gone  to  confer  with  the  king's  uncles  at  Blois  ;  and 
that,  in  consequence  of  what  had  passed  with  them,  he  had 
proceeded  to  Paris.  He  had  frustrated  the  proposed  inva- 
sion of  England  ;  and  it  was  evident  now  that  the  English 
armament,  which  had  been  sent  out  at  his  solicitation,  was 
to  be  rendered  equally  vain  by  his  change  of  purpose.  Ur- 
gent as  the  motives  might  be  which  induced  him  to  act  thus, 
and  necessary  as  it  was  to  brook  such  treatment,  Arundel 

*  Proissart,  iii.  116.  121.  "  Now,"  says  Froissart,  "in  this  place  let  us 
leave  to  speak  of  the  duke  of  Bretagne  ;  for,  as  far  as  I  could  hear,  he  has 
held  well  the  agreement  made  with  the  French  king  and  his  uncles,  and  has 
done  nothing  since  to  be  spoken  of,  up  to  the  time  that  I  Unshed  this  book. 
I  cannot  tell  if  he  will  do  any  thing  more  ;  if  he  do,  I  shall  speak  thereof  ac- 
cording as  I  shall  know."  (iii.  121.)  He  had  a  great  deal  more  to  relate  of  him 
in  the  subsequent  volume,  and  of  his  continued  hatred  to  Olivier  de  Clisson, 
which,  mutual  and  hearty  as  it  was,  gave  way  at  length  to  a  sense  of  inter- 
est on  the  duke's  part,  and  of  generous  feeling  on  that  of  his  enemy. 

t"  They  had  with  them,"  says  Froissart, "  vessels  called  balniers  cour- 
siers,  qui  flotterent  sur  la  mer,  and  went  before  them  seeking  adventures, 
in  like  manner  as  certain  knights  and  esquires  a-land,  mounted  upon  the 
flower  of  the  horses,  go  before  the  main  battles  and  prick  forward  to  disco- 
ver ambushes."  (iii.  110.)  In  another  chapter,  speaking  of  this  same  fleet, 
he  calls  these  vessels  balleniers,  "  qu'  escumeurs  de  mer  par  coustume  ont 
volontiers,  et  qui  approcherent  les  terres  de  plus  pres,  que  les  autres  vais- 
seaux  ne  font."— iii.  116. 


THE  ENGLISH  SAIL  FOR  ROCHELLE.  349 

deemed  it  unbecoming  to  return  from  a  bootless  expedition  : 
he  held  a  council  of  war,  and  it  was  resolved  that  they 
should  approach  Rochelle,  and  land  in  the  Rochellois ;  see- 
ing that,  although  they  had  no  strong  place  to  support  them, 
they  were  enough  to  meet  in  the  field  the  whole  power  of 
Xamctonge  and  Poictou.  They  hired,  therefore,  a  trusty 
messenger,  who  was  to  make  his  way  into  the  Lemosin,  and 
direct  Perrot  le  Bearnois,  who  held  a  command  there  for  the 
English,  to  collect  what  force  he  could  there  and  in  Au- 
vergne,  and  make  such  movements  in  those  provinces  as 
should  prevent  any  force  from  being  despatched  from  thence 
a^inst  them.  There  was  little  reason  to  doubt  the  speed 
of  their  agent,  who  was  a  Breton,  perfectly  conversant  in 
the  French,  English,  and  Spanish  languages,  as  well  as  in 
his  own  tongue,  and  who  carried  with  him  nothing  by  which 
his  errand  could  possibly  be  discovered.  This  done,  they 
weighed  anchor  and  made  towards  Rochelle  full  sail,  "  at 
the  will,"  says  Froissart,  "  of  God  and  the  wind.  They  had 
the  weather  and  the  tide  with  them ;  for  it  was  so  fair  and 
serene,  and  the  wind  so  to  a  point  for  them,  that  it  was  a 
goodly  sight  to  behold  these  ships  upon  the  sea.  One  and 
another  they  were  about  sixscore,  with  banners  and  stream- 
ers* waving  in  the  wind,  richly  emblazoned  with  the  arms 
of  the  lords,  which  glittered  against  the  sun.  Thus  they 
went  on  sailing  over  the  fair  and  favouring  sea,  that  seemed 
as  if  it  had  great  delight  in  wafting  them.  And  as  ^  horse, 
well-rested  and  well-fed,  when  he  comes  out  of  the  stable, 
neighs  in  the  feeling  of  his  strength,  so  the  sea,  with  the  aid 
of  the  wind,  which  was  at  their  wish,  seemed  to  move  on- 
ward, and  might,  oy  a  figure,  be  thought  to  say,  merrily 
and  boldly,  ♦  I  am  for  you ;  I  will  bring  you  safely  to 
harbour.'  "| 

*  "  Venteloient  sur  estrainniers."  Denis  S.iiivage  says  in  a  marginal 
note,  "  Verard  dit  estrannieres  ;  inais  je  confessn  n'entendre  ne  I'un,  ne 
I'autre."  The  context,  however,  explains  the  word,  which  was  understood 
by  lord  Beiners,  and  which  is  found  in  Roquefort's  Glossary, — Estrain- 
niere,  estrannere  ;  drapeau,  itendard. 

t  So  characteristic  a  passage  should  be  given  in  its  original  language,  for 
it  must  needs  lose  something  in  translating.  "  Quand — se  furent  departis 
des  bendes  de  Bretaignc,  ils  singlerent,  a  I'entente  de  Dieu  et  du  vent  a 
plain  voile.  Car  ils  avoicnt  le  temps  et  la  mar^e  pour  eux,  et  faisoit  si  bel 
et  si  sery,  el  vent  si  a  point,  que  grand  plaisir  estoit  de  veoir  ces  vaisseaux 
lur  la  nier,  car  ils  estoient  environ  six  vingts  voiles,  uns  et  autres;  et  ven- 
teloient sur  estrainnieres  trop  gentcment  armoy^es  des  armes  des  seign- 
eurs, qui  resplendissoient  contre  le  soleil.  Ainsi  s'en  vindrent  ils,  tout 
nageant  et  flottant,  parnii  cclle  nier,  qui  lors  estoit  haix^e,  et  monstroit 
qu'elle  eust  grande  plaisancc  d'eux  porter.  Ainsi  commcun  cheval,  agren^ 
et  sejourn<i  quand  il  est  horsde  Testable,  a  grande  faim  de  hcnner,  ainsi 
la  mur,  avec  I'aidc  du  vent,  qui  luy  estoit  si  d  point  comme  a  son  hait, 
Vol.  I.  2  G 


350  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

They  anchored  in  the  harbour  of  Rochelle  opposite  Marant. 
Some  200  adventurers,  without  waiting  for  high  water,  got 
into  their  boats  as  soon  as  the  tide  served,  and  so  entered  that 
town.  The  watch  from  the  castle,  seeing  the  fleet  anive, 
and  the  boats  making  for  the  river,  blew  the  alarm,  and  the 
inhabitants  lost  no  time  in  removing  their  best  effects  into 
the  castle ;  "  and  well  for  them,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  that 
they  did  so,  otherwise  they  would  have  lost  all.  When  they 
saw  the  English  at  their  heels,  they  left  the  rest,  and  thought 
only  of  saving  themselves.  The  invaders  immediately  fell 
to  pillage,  as  for  pillage  they  were  come ;  and  little  they 
found  there  except  large  empty  chests  :  but  of  corn,  bacon, 
and  other  provisions,  they  found  good  store,  and  more  than 
400  pipes  of  wine,  in  guard  of  which  seasonable  supply  they 
determined  to  remain  there  that  night.  On  the  morrow  the 
main  force  landed,  leaving  the  great  ships,  which  could  not 
approach  the  shore,  at  anchor,  with  100  men-at-arms,  and 
200  archers,  to  protect  them.  They  encamped  between  Ma- 
rant and  Rochelle,  which  was  four  short  leagues  distant. 
The  news  soon  spread  ;  and  not  the  open  country  only,  but 
the  towns  and  castles  were  alarmed,  and  kept  good  watch  ; 
and  the  villagers  began  to  take  flight  and  remove  their  goods 
into  the  woods,  or  wherever  they  could,  with  all  speed. 

If  the  English  had  been  provided  with  horses,  they  might 
have  overrun  the  country,  for  it  was  altogether  unprepared 
for  defence.  Though  an  enemy's  fleet  had  so  long  been 
lying  off  the  coast,  there  was  no  commander  in  the  province. 
The  seneschals  were  not  in  their  respective  districts ;  the 
barons  and  knights,  who  might  have  brought  together  a  suf- 
ficient force  to  have  encountered  these  invaders,  looked  only 
each  to  the  preservation  of  his  own ;  the  people  followed 
their  example,  hastening  only  to  gather  in  the  harvest,  and 
secure  it  where  they  could  ;  and  if  there  were  any  who  were 
disposed  to  take  the  lead  for  the  defence  of  the  land,  they 
were  distracted  between  the  alarm  of  the  debarkment  and 
that  which  Perrot  le  Bearnois  excited  by  his  incursions. 
The  seneschal  of  Rochelle  was  employed  by  the  duke  of 
Berry  at  a  distance ;  but  there  were  two  brave  knights  in  the 
town,  by  name  messire  Pierre  de  Jouy  and  messireTaillepie, 
whom  the  seneschal  had  left  to  perform  his  functions  during 
Jiis  absence.  Rochelle  was  a  populous  place  :  these  knights 
called  together  the  mayor  and  the  principal  inhabitants,  and 
said  to  them,  "  Sirs,  we  must  go  look  at  these  Englishmen 

monstroit  cheminer.  Ce  pouvoit  elle  dire  par  figure,  li^ment  et  liaidement  : 
'  Je  suis  pour  voiis.  Jo  vous  mettray  en  liavre  et  port,  sans  peril.' " — iii- 116. 


ATTACK  ON  THE   KNGLISti  QUARTERS.  351 

in  their  lodging,  and  give  them  a  welcome  ;  for  which  they 
shall  either  pay  us,  or  we  will  pay  them  !  We  shall  be 
l)lamed  if  we  let  them  remain  there  at  their  ease.  And  there 
is  one  point  which  is  right  good  for  us  ;  they  have  no  horses  ; 
they  are  men  of  the  sea,  and  we  are  well  mounted.  We  will 
send  our  arbalisters  before,  to  wake  them  with  their  quarrels, 
and,  when  they  have  done  this,  to  return.  The  English  will 
issue  out  against  them  on  foot :  we  will  let  the  arbalisters 
pass  into  the  town,  and  receive  the  enemy  at  the  spear's 
point ;  and,  being  on  horseback,  we  shall  have  them  at  such 
vantage  that  we  may  do  them  great  hurt."  The  proposal 
was  thought  good,  and,  before  daybreak  on  the  morrow,  some 
1200  arbalisters  and  tall  men  sallied  from  Rochelle ;  while 
the  horsemen,  300  in  number,  made  ready  to  follow  and  sup- 
port them.  The  plan  was  not  so  well  laid  but  that  the  Eng- 
lish, if  they  had  had  any  initimation  or  suspicion  thereof, 
might  have  laid  an  ambush  and  cut  off  the  whole  party. 
'I'here  was  a  want  of  due  vigilance  in  the  English  camp : 
strict  watch  was  kept  there  during  the  night;  but  no  sooner 
had  the  sun  risen  (and  this  was  at  the  beginning  of  August), 
than,  as  if  all  danger  of  a  sudden  attack  were  over,  the  sen- 
tinels went  to  their  quarters,  where  the  army  lay  upon  straw, 
in  huts  constructed  of  green  boughs.  They  were  roused 
there  by  a  shower  of  viretons  from  the  cross-bows  :  six  dis- 
charges the  enemy  made,  whicli  rattled  through  the  boughs, 
and  wounded  many,  before  the  English  knew  that  the  enemy 
were  upon  them.  They  were  presently  upon  their  feet;  the 
arbalisters  retreated  as  they  as  they  had  been  instructed,  and 
more  than  aj)ace  when  they  saw  with  what  alacrity  the  men 
whom  they  liad  thus  roused  came  out  against  them,  for  they 
feared  the  English  arrows.  The  horsemen  covered  the  re- 
treat, falling  back  as  fast  as  they  could,  while  making  head 
against  an  eager  enemy.  Arundel,  himself,  was  foremost  in 
the  pursuit,  with  about  400  men-at-arms,  each  having  "  his 
spear  in  hand,  or  on  his  neck ;  the  two  knights,  at  whose 
advice  the  sally  had  been  made,  did  their  devoir  in  present- 
ing themselves  to  the  brunt  of  the  danger,  and  both  narrowly 
escaped  death  just  as  they  reached  the  barriers.  Pierre  de 
Jouy  had  his  horse  killed  under  him  there,  and  was  with 
great  difficulty  drawn  in  by  his  people.  Taillepie  was  pierced 
through  the  thigh  with  a  spear,  and  wounded  with  an  arrow 
through  his  bacinet,  and  the  horse  which  bore  him  into  the 
town  fell  there  dead  under  him.  About  forty  were  slain  or 
wounded  there ;  but  the  townsmen  "  got  above  the  gate, 
and  by  the   stones  which   they  cast  down,  and    by  their 


352  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

guns,  prevented  the  English  from  pursuing  their  advantage 
farther."* 

The  men  of  Rochelle  did  not  repeat  an  adventure  which 
had  succeeded  so  ill,  and  in  w^hich  both  their  captains  had 
been  wounded ;  and  the  invaders  made  three  or  four  incur- 
sions into  the  Rochellois  towards  Blesvire,  and  into  the  land 
of  Thouars,  to  the  great  damage  as  well  as  dismay  of  the 
country.  It  was  well  for  the  French  that  they  came  without 
horses  and  found  none ;  and  well,  perhaps,  for  themselves 
also — or  the  little  resistance  which  they  met  with  might  have 
tempted  them  to  proceed  so  far  that  they  might  have  found  it 
difficult  to  retreat.  Arundel,  however,  conducted  himself  with 
great  prudence.  He  stored  himself  plentifully  with  wine  and 
fresh  provisions  ;  and,  contenting  himself  with  this,  and  with 
having  done  enough  by  this  debarkation  to  show  that  n.o  dis- 
credit could  be  attached  to  him  for  the  failure  of  the  expedi- 
tion, but  that  the  English  had  performed  their  part,  and  were 
ready  and  able  to  have  done  much  more,  had  the  support 
which  had  been  promised  been  given  them — he  re-embarked, 
after  a  fortnight's  tarriance  on  shore,  and  continued  to  cruise, 
as  if  to  make  it  appear  that  he  had  been  sent  out  rather  to 
keep  the  seas  than  with  any  more  serious  views.  Perrot  le 
Bearnois,  meantime,  had  performed  his  instructions  well. 
Taking  the  field  with  400  spears,  and  as  many  more  attend- 
ants, who  were  denominated  by  the  more  significant  than 
honourable  appellation  of  Fillers,  he  passed  through  the  Le- 
moisin,  entered  Berry,  and  came  into  the  town  of  Le  Blanc, 
on  fair  day,  with  his  unexpected  and  ugly  customers,  who 
carried  off  not  only  the  goods  but  the  merchants  also. 
"  There,"  says  Froissart,  "  they  had  great  profit  and  good 
prisoners."  The  whole  country,  as  far  as  the  Loire,  and  be- 
yond that  river,  was  sore  dismayed ;  and  the  counties  of  Blois 
and  Touraine  partook  in  the  alarm,  apprehending  that  this 
force  would  form  a  junction  with  that  which  had  landed  at 
Marant,  and  that  some  great  enterprise  was  designed.  Be- 
fore they  were  roused  to  exert  themselves  in  their  own  de- 
fence, Perrot  had  plundered  the  land ;  and  when  he  and  his 
comrades  were  satisfied  with  their  booty,  they  retired  with  it 
in  safety  to  their  own  strongholds."! 

Such  was  war  during  the  age  of  chivalry :  except  when 
royal  armies  took  the  field  in  strength,  it  was  carried  on  in 
the  spirit  of  privateering  by  sea  and  by  land,  and  by  the  same 
persons ;  to  all  whom  it  seems  to  have  been  indifferent  in 
which  service  they  engaged,  and,  to  most  of  them,  in  whose. 
Courage  was  carried  to  its  height,  and,  in  some  better  na- 
*  Froissart,  iii.  117.  t  Ibid. 


NfiGOTIATIONS  FOR  PEACE.  353 

tures,  the  principle  of  honour  also ;  but  these  unhappily  were 
few ;  and  fewer  still  were  they  in  whom  it  was  always  con- 
nected with  humanity ;  there  were  too  many  who,  like  the 
old  Vikingr,  seemed  to  think  that  it  became  the  brave  to  be 
merciless ;  but  those  who  were  the  most  honourable  were 
generally  the  most  compassionate.  One  who,  in  those  ages, 
should  have  asserted  that  our  natural  state  is  a  state  of  war- 
fare, would  have  been  borne  out  in  that  philosophy,  if  men 
were  to  be  regarded  only  as  they  then  were.  There  was  no 
other  occupation  for  restless  spirits,  no  other  education  than 
what  directly  related  to  it,  for  the  great  and  the  wellborn  ; 
no  other  field  for  ambition  except  that  of  the  church — into 
which  ambition  never  ought  to  enter.  Government  was  no- 
where strong  enough  to  maintain  order  at  home,  when  this 
outlet  for  the  turbulent  and  the  lawless  was  closed ;  and,  there- 
fore, every  country  was  sure  to  be  disturbed  by  factions,  or 
convulsed  by  civil  wars,  when  it  was  at  peace  with  its  neigh- 
bours, and  had  no  foreign  enemies  to  contend  with. 

Of  this  the  history  of  the  Plantagenets  supplies  abundant 
proof.  If  the  duke  of  Bretagne  had  been  firm  of  purpose  like 
his  mother,  and  continued  steady  to  his  engagements  with 
Kngland,  Richard  II.,  instead  of  being  ignominiously  deposed 
and  barbarously  murdered,  might  have  ended  his  days  as  a 
victorious  and  popular  king.  His  inclinations  were  for  peace, 
and  in  this  his  uncle,  John  of  Gaunt,  concurred  with  inno 
him  ;  but  when  that  prince  v/as  sent  to  confer  with 
the  dukes  of  IJerry  and  Burgimdy,  and  "  conclude  a  perfect 
peace,  both  by  sea  and  land,  between  France  and  England 
and  all  their  allies,"  his  brother  Gloucester  was  sent  with 
him,  "  for  he  rather  desired  to  have  had  war  than  any  peace, 
except  such  a  one  as  should  be  greatly  to  the  advantage  and 
honour  of  the  realm  of  England ;  and,  therefore,  the  commons 
of  England,  understanding  bis  disposition,  agreed  that  ho 
should  bo  sent  rather  than  f^ny  other.  For  where,  in  times 
past,"  says  Holinshed,  "  the  Englishmen  had  greatly  gained 
by  the  wars  of  France,  as  well  the  commons  as  the  knights 
and  esquires,  who  had,  by  the  same,  maintained  their  estate, 
they  could  not  give  their  willing  consents  to  have  any  peace 
at  all  with  the  Frenchmen,  in  hope  by  reason  of  the  wars  to 
profit  themselves  as  in  times  past  they  had  done."  The  first 
demand  which  the  French  made  was,  that  Calais  should  be 
rased ;  they  did  not  require  that  it  should  be  given  up,  but 
that  the  place  should  be  utterly  demolished,  so  "  as  there 
should  never  be  any  habitation  there  after  that  time."  But 
Calais  was  all  that  remained  of  Edward's  conquests :  it  was 
not  in  the  opinion  of  the  English  alone,  but  also  of  foreign 
2g2 


354  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

powers,  a  possession  of  the  greatest  importance,  as  command- 
ing the  narrow  seas ;  and  the  French  princes  were  told,  that, 
if  they  wished  to  proceed  with  the  treaty,  such  a  proposal 
must  be  spoken  of  no  more.*  A  truce  for  four  years  was 
concluded :  during  that  interval  Richard  lost  his  "  good 
queen  Anne"  of  Bohemia,  and  contracted  a  second  marriage 
with  the  king  of  France's  daughter,  Isabelle,  a  child  not  past 
eight  years  of  age,  upon  which  occasion  the  truce  was  ex- 
tended to  thirty  years.  Better  had  it  been  for  both  countries 
to  have  continued  at  war,  than  that  this  ample  scope  should 
have  been  given  to  the  factions  by  which  both  were  soon  to 
be  afflicted. 

joqc  The  seas,  however,  were  not  safe,  though  this  truce 
was  faithfully  observed  on  both  sides.  The  Danes  are 
said  by  our  chroniclers  to  have  done  "  much  hurt  to  the  Eng- 
lish merchants  ;  and,  when  the  haven  towns  along  the  coast  of 
Norfolk  made  forth  a  number  of  ships,  and  ventured  to  fight 
with  those  pirates,  they  were  vanquished  by  them,  so  that 
many  were  slain,  and  many  taken  prisoners,  which  were  con- 
strained to  pay  great  ransoms.  The  enemies  also  found,  in  ran- 
sacking the  English  ships,  20,000/.,  which  the  English  mer- 
chants had  on  board  to  buy  wares  with  in  the  places  whither 
they  were  bound. "f  The  affairs  of  the  Baltic  had  so  little 
relation  to  those  of  England  or  France  at  this  time,  that  it  is 
not  surprising  to  find  our  chroniclers  altogether  unacquainted 
with  them,  and  taking  it,  as  it  were,  for  granted,  that  any 
pirates  who  came  from  that  quarter  must  be  Danes.  But 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  piracies  were  committed  by 
the  Vitalians,:!^  under  which  dignified  appellation  northern  his- 
torians have  rendered  either  the  homely  name  of  messmates, 
as  assumed  by  the  sea-rovers  themselves,  or  of  victuallers,  as 
given  them  by  the  people  upon  whom  they  foraged,  and  per- 
haps because  they  professed  at  first  to  seize  food  for  the  pur- 
pose of  victualling  Stockholm,  which  was,  at  that  time,  be- 
sieged by  the  Danes.  These  are  the  only  pirates  since  the 
days  of  the  Vikingr,  who  were  openly  encouraged,  and  indeed 
raised,  by  a  regular  government.  The  duke  of  Mecklenburg 
caused  it  to  be  proclaimed  at  Rostock,  that  all  who  chose  to 
fit  out  ships  and  make  war  by  sea  and  by  land  upon  Danes, 
Swedes,  and  Norwegians,  subjects  of  the  great  queen  Mar- 

,    ••*  Holinsheri,  823.  t  Ibid.  830. 

X  "  Hi  prwdones  voce  vernacula  Fetalybrodre  Danis  vulgo  dicti,  quod  in 
illo  mari  passim  de  commeatu  sibi  ipsi  prospicerent." — (Pontanus,  p  520.) 
Latomus  says  they  agreed  to  share  equally  whatever  they  took,  and  called 
themselves  yittalien-Bruder,  and  Gleichebeuter  (Genealochronicon  Mega- 
politanum  apud  Westphalin,  iv.  320.)  Holberg  (I.  503.)  derives  the  name 
from  their  intention  of  relieving  Stockholm. 


THE  VITALI^NS.  355 

garet,  should  have  the  use  of  his  ports,  and  find  there  a  free 
market  for  their  plunder.  Upon  this  nefarious  invitation,  one 
Bartel  Voet  offered  himself  as  a  captain  ;  outlaws  and  des- 
perate adventurers  from  all  the  Baltic  shores  joined  him  in 
great  numbers  :  they  were  soon  strong  enough  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  isle  of  Gothland,  and  making  that  their  station, 
from  thence  infested  the  seas  with  their  cruisers,  and  "  taking 
a  hand's  breadth  where  only  a  finger's  had  been  given  them," 
they  made  prize  of  whatever  they  met,  unless  the  ships  be- 
longed either  to  Rostock  or  Wismar,  those  places  being  their 
marts ;  and  this  had  nearly  broken  up  tlie  union  between 
Mecklenburg  and  its  allies.  Their  depredations  became  so 
injurious,  and  the  devastation  which  they  made  in  their  de- 
scents was  so  great,  that  all  parties,  and  especially  queen 
Margaret,  who  was  far  the  most  powerful,  were  induced  to 
make  peace,  more  for  the  sake  of  clearing  the  seas  from  these 
pirates  than  for  any  other  motive.  The  Vitalians  no  sooner 
apprehended  their  danger  than  they  forsook  Gothland,  sailed 
for  the  coast  of  Norway,  and  entering  Bergen  by  force,  would 
have  made  that  place  another  Jomsburg,  if  time  had  been  al- 
lowed them.  But  from  thence  the  Danes  drove  them,  and 
having  capttired  one  of  their  ships  with  eighty  men  on  board, 
put  them  all  to  death.  The  loss  of  that  station  caused  them 
to  disperse  ;  some  of  them  directed  their  course  towards  the 
then  undiscovered  parts  of  the  north  and  eastward,  from 
whence  very  few  returned  ;  a  larger  part  got  into  the  Frisian 
ports,  and  from  thence,  as  if  emulating  their  ancestors,  began 
to  infest,  not  only  Belgium,  England,  and  France,  but  Spain 
also  with  their  piracies.  Thus  they  existed  ten  years,  to  the 
great  hurt  as  well  as  reproach  of  the  states  which  had  at  first 
encouraged  them,  and  to  the  great  injury  of  other  nations,  till 
at  length  Hamburgh  sent  a  squadron  to  pursue  them  in  what 
the  people  of  the  Baltic  call  the  Western  Sea,  and  bring  home 
for  execution,  according  to  the  laws  enacted  against  them,  all 
whom  they  did  not  sink,  burn,  or  otherwise  destroy.  Their 
most  notorious  captain,  Klaas  Stortebekker,  and  another  by 
name  Wichman,  were  then  off  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe,  wait- 
ing to  intercept  the  English  and  other  ships  :  the  Hamburg- 
ese  came  down  the  river  in  company  with  some  merchant- 
men, taking  care  to  keep  out  of  sight  every  thing  that  could 
make  the  pirates  apprehend  they  were  prepared  for  action ; 
and  in  this  they  succeeded  so  well,  that  the  freebooters  at- 
tacked them,  expecting  to  find  an  easy  prey.  Forty  of  the 
Vitalians  fell  in  the  desperate  action  that  ensued  ;  seventy, 
including  the  two  captains,  were  brought  prisoners  to  Ham- 
burgh, and  there  executed,  and  their  heads  set  upon  poles 


356  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

along  the  banks  of  the  Elbe.  Two  otlier  captains,  Weich- 
bold  and  Gotke  Michael,  took  vengeance  for  their  deaths  upon 
such  as  fell  into  their  hands.  The  former  was  a  master  of 
arts ;  an  outcast,  therefore,  or  renegade  from  some  clerical 
state ;  he  retained,  however,  his  superstition  when  he  had 
dispensed  with  his  religion,  and  trusted  for  security  to  a  relic 
of  St.  Vincent  the  Martyr.  These  men,  who  were  noted  for 
their  depredations  upon  the  English,  were  met  with  off  He- 
ligoland, captured,  and  with  their  surviving  crews,  to  the 
number  of  fourscore,  beheaded,  their  heads  also  being  ex- 
posed upon  the  shore.  After  the  loss  of  their  leaders  the  Vi- 
talians  no  longer  existed  as  a  body,  but  the  name  long  con- 
tinued, in  those  parts,  to  be  synonymous  with  pirates.* 

The  inclination  to  piracy  could  seldom  be  wanting  among 
sailors  of  that  age:  and  it  is  probable  that  many  acts  of  this 
kind  ascribed  to  these  freebooters  were  committed  by  men 
who  passed  with  the  reputation  of  fair  traders.  Ambassa- 
dors came  to  Richard  II.  from  Conrad  von  Zolner,  the  twen- 
tieth grand  master  of  the  Teutonic  order,  complaining  of 
various  wrongs  and  outrages  inflicted  upon  his  subjects,  not^ 
withstanding  the  old  amity  between  the  kings  of  England 
and  the  masters  of  that  order,  and  the  assistance  which  they 
had  received  from  the  barons,  knights,  and  other  nobles  of 
this  realm  in  their  conquest  of  the  infidels.  His  subjects 
and  merchants,  he  said,  had  "  sustained  sundry  damages  and 
ablations  by  divers  inhabitants  of  England,  and  that  very 
often,  and  both  by  sea  and  land."  Some  of  these  injuries 
were  in  king  Edward's  time;  they  had  since  become  more 
frequent;  and  having  been  duly  put  down  in  registers,  and 
recorded  in  his  cities  in  the  land  of  Prussia,  the  sufferers 
had  obtained  his  letters  both  to  the  late  king,  and  sundry 
times  to  Richard  also,  praying  for  restitution,  "whereby, 
however,  they  nothing  at  all  prevailed,  but  heaping  loss  upon 
loss,  mispent  their  time  and  their  charges.     He  had  there- 

*  Fontanus,  520—534.  Holberg,  i.  503.  505.  515.  Bern.  Latomus,  Genea- 
luchronicon  Megapolitanuni,  apiid  VVestphalin,  iv.  320.  320,  330.  Lamb. 
Alardiis,  Res  Nordabengicffi,  ibid.  i.  1822.  Ibid.  iii.  Pra;f.  86.  There  is  one  wri- 
ter in  Westphalia's  valuable  collection  who  glosses  over  the  origin  of  these 
pirates,  and  keeps  out  of  si^rht  the  remainder  of  their  history.  This  is  Corn. 
Hanisfortius,  in  his  work  lie  Rebus  Holsatorum  Vicinarumque  Gentium 
pra;clare  gestis.  He  says  (i.  1722  ),  "  Holsatis  tulere  opem  ob  Danorum  pi- 
raticas  excursiones,  Haniburgenses,  Lubecenses,  Vismarienses,  Rostochien- 
ses,  Sundenses,  et  alii  niaritimarum  iirbium  incolae,  qui  Vithaliani  sunt 
dicti."  Latomus  says  of  them  (iv.  320),  "  Es  stehet  nicht  zu  beschreiben, 
wie  viel  des  losen  und  bosen  volcks,  als  ihnen  der  raub  zugel  Jos  gelassen 
ward,  ziisammen  lieff,  aus  alien  landen  von  bauern  und  burgen,  und  an- 
dern  desindlcin.  Dan  alle  so  keinc  lust  zu  arbeiten  batten,  die  liesscn 
sich  begUDcken  von  den  Daenischen  und  Norwegischen  bauern  reich  zu 
warden  •" 


DISPUTES  WITH  PRUSSIA.  357 

fore  repeatedly  been  solicited  to  afford  these  his  subjects 
such  restitution  as  was  in  his  power,  seeing  that  so  much 
wealth  of  the  English  merchants  was  every  year  to  be  found 
in  Prussia,  as  if  it  were  seized  might  afford  them  some  reason- 
able satisfaction."  But  he  and  his  predecessors  had  always 
deferred  this,  out  of  "  mere  and  principal  respect  to  the  spe- 
cial courtesies  and  favours"  which  they  had  received  from 
the  kings  of  England  ;  nor  had  there  yet  in  retaliation  for 
these  injuries  been  any  manner  of  offence  or  molestation 
offered  to  any  of  the  king's  subjects,  noble  or  ignoble.  He 
complained  especially  of  an  outrage  committed  the  preceding 
summer  upon  six  Prussian  vessels  in  the  Zwijn,  aggravated 
by  circumstances  of  great  treachery  and  insult.  The  Eng- 
lish ships  anchored  beside  these  Prussian  merchantmen  as 
friends,  "  protesting  unto  them  that  they  should  in  no  sort 
be  molested  or  damnified  by  any  of  their  company,  but  that 
they  would  faithfully  defend  them,  as  if  they  were  their  own 
people,  from  the  hands  of  their  adversaries,"  meaning,  no 
doubt,  the  Vitalians.  Under  this  pretext,  and  "  for  their 
further  security  and  trust,"  they  sent  some  of  their  own  men 
on  board ;  after  which,  they  first  took  from  them  "  all  kind 
of  armours,  wherewith  they  were  to  protect  themselves 
against  pirates,  plundered  them  of  money,  jewels,  garments, 
and  all  the  goods  and  merchandises  they  could  find,  burnt 
one  of  the  ships,  and  carried  two  of  the  captains  away  with 
them  to  Sandwich."  These  captains  were  not  permitted  to 
land  there ;  and  when  released,  were  made  to  swear  that 
they  would  make  no  complaint  to  the  king  of  England,  his 
council,  or  his  chancellor.  "  Go  your  ways  home,"  it  was 
said  to  them :  "  ir  your  own  country  of  Prussia  there  are 
English  merchants  and  goods  sufficient:  recover  your  losses 
upon  them,  and  take  two  for  one !"  The  solicitations  of 
these  men,  and  of  other  sufferers,  were  such,  that  "  full  sore 
against  his  will,"  the  grand  master  had  found  it  necessary 
to  arrest  the  English  goods  and  merchants  in  his  cities  of 
Elburg  and  Dantzic,  and  detain  them  in  sure  places,  till  the 
whole  premises  could  be  laid  before  the  kin^  of  England. 
There  were  some  Englishmen,  who,  "  not  seeking  for  peace," 
had  falsely  informed  the  king  and  his  counsel  that  these 
merchants  were  "  barbarously  entreated,  cast  into  loathsome 

f>risons,  where  they  were  drenched  in  mire  and  water,  fed 
ike  dogs,  and  restrained  from  all  conference  and  company 
of  men ;"  and,  in  consequence  of  this  slanderous  represen- 
tation, certain  merchants  of  Prussia  and  of  other  regions  of 
Germany  had  been  apprehended  as  raalefswtors  in  London, 
and  imprisoned  there,  till  the  truth  had  been  made  known. 


358  NAVAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

This  seems  to  have  been  done  by  some  former  ambassadors; 
and  with  these,  for  not  entering  England  till  they  had  ob- 
tained a  safe-conduct,  the  grand  master  said  he  was  exceed- 
ingly offended,  "  because  there  is  no  need  of  safe-conduct 
between  special  friends."  He  now  prayed  that  such  enemies 
of  truth  and  concord  as  had  thus  slanderously  devised  con- 
cerning him  and  his  people  might  be  chastised  in  such  man- 
ner that  they  might  be  an  example  to  others  ;  and  he  prayed 
also  that  mutual  restitution  might  be  made,  and  all  wrongs 
redressed. 
1388         Ambassadors*  accordingly  were  sent  to  Prussia  to 

accommodate  these  differences,  and  an  agreement  was 
then  concluded, — "  forasmuch,"  the  preamble  stated,  "  as 
the.  Author  of  peace  will  have  peacemakers  to  be  the  sons 
of  blessedness,  and  the  execrable  enemy  of  peace  to  be 
expelled  out  of  the  dominions  of  Christians."  By  this  agree- 
ment, all  arrests,  reprisals,  and  impignorations  were  to  be 
released,  all  demands  in  consequence  of  them  declared  void, 
and  all  actions  arising  therefrom  "  extinct  and  of  notie 
effect:" — a  provision  which  left  the  injured  parties  with 
their  loss.  Prussian  claimants  upon  England  for  injuries 
sustained  in  the  Zwijn  or  elsewhere,  were  to  repair  to  Eng- 
land, or  send  their  procurators,  and  there  propound  their 
complaints  to  the  king,  who  was  Bound  to  do  his  endeavour 
that  they  should  have  restitution  of  their  goods,  or  "  at  least 
complete  justice  and  judgment  without  delay."  English 
claimants  were  in  like  manner  to  have  recourse  to  the  grand 
master.  So,  too,  where  any  criminal  complaint  was  to  be 
propounded,  as  that  a  brother,  or  other  kinsman,  had  been 
slain,  wounded,  or  maimed  ;  in  such  cases,  the  ambassadors, 
after  full  inquiry,  were  authorized  to  ordain  "  a  friendly 
reconciliation,  or  honest  recompense  between  the  parties ;" 
and  if  the  principal  offender  should  be  dead,  the  complainants 
were  to  have  their  remedy  against  the  goods  or  heirs  of  the 
offender.  This  agreement  was  not  carried  into  effect  when 
the  grand  master  died  ;  and  as  the  Prussian  merchants  at 
the  end  of  ten  years  were  still  aggrieved  in  England,  his 
,oQQ     successor,  Conrad  von  Jungingen,  in  consequence  of 

renewed  complaints,  and,  perhaps,  also  finding  it 
advisable  to  commence  his  administration  by  a  measure 
that  should  render  him  popular  with  the  mercantile  part  of 
his  subjects,  refused  to  stand  bound  by  the  engagement, 
and  by  his   letters  to   the   king   of    England  declared    it 

*  They  were  master  Nicholas  Stocket,  licentiate  of  both  laws,  Walter 
Sibel,  and  Thomas  Graa,  citizens  of  London  and  York. 


DISPUTES  WITH  PRUSSIA.  359 

void  "  from  lienceforth,  and  for  the  time  heretofore  also." 
This,  however,  was  done  in  no  hostile  temper :  a  year  from 
the  date  of  such  renunciation  was  allowed  for  the  English  to 
remove  their  goods,  provided  the  Prussians  were  allowed  the 
same :  "  and  in  any  affairs  whatsoever,"  said  the  grand  mas- 
ter, "  both  ourselves  and  our  whole  order  are  right  willing 
devoutly  to  submit  ourselves  unto  your  highness  s  pleasure 
and  command ;  and  also  to  benefit  and  promote  your  sub- 
jects, we  will  endeavour  to  the  utmost  of  our  ability."  Mat- 
ters remained  in  this  state,  when  Richard  II.'s  reign  was 
brought  to  its*  disastrous  termination. 

*  Hakluyt,  i.  148-154. 


NOTES.    ' 


liichard  I.  in  Cyprus,  p.  154. 

This  part  of  Coeur  de  Lion's  history  is  thus  curiously  related  in 
Robert  Barret's  Sacred  War,  a  Poem  Epike,  containing  between 
50,000  and  60,000  lines,  which  the  patient  writer  intended  for 
publication  in  the  year  1613,  and  of  which  what  is,  no  doubt,  the 
only  existing  manuscript  is  in  my  possession.  Some  former  speci- 
mens of  it,  which  were  inserted  in  the  notes  to  Roderick,  have  had 
the  rare  fortune  of  being  translated  into  Dutch  verse,  by  the  mas- 
terly hand  of  one  who  could  transfuse  the  peculiarity  of  its  unique 
style. 

It  seem'd  them  good  to  stay  king  Richard's  coming; 
Who  later  had  sails  hoisted  from  Messine, 
Having  with  Tancred  ended  quarrels  humming, 
Bringing  along  with  him  his  spoused  queen, 
Berengar,  daughter  to  Barcelon's  duke, 
And  Joan  his  sister,  late  Sicilia's  queen. 
Out  lanched  on  seas,  nought  fearing  the  rebuke 
Of  blusterers'  king,  and  king  of  liquid  main. 
When  lo,  unlookcd  for,  in  a  time  serene 
The  blusterers'  king,  up  stirrings  bengle  tines, 
Caused  the  king  of  green  waves  greenish  reign 
To  swell,  and  swelling  blanch  his  brinish  crines, 
Pufleth  full-cheeked  ^ol ;  Neptune  pouts ; 
Puffing  and  pouting,  ships  tempested  are. 
The  pilots  call,  the  matelots  run  about. 
And  every  one  surcharged  is  with  care. 
With  storms  increase,  increaseth  care  and  toil, 
And  care  and  toil  surtoileth  marine  crew. 
One  ship  tiremes,  two  fail  in  this  coil. 
And  failing,  sink  under  sea's  mantle  blue. 
In  fine,  don  ^ol  husht,  and  Neptune  calm, 
Descryed  is  the  isle  of  lovers  queen. 
The  fleet  regathered  with  a  joyful  palm. 
Their  cleave-wave  prows  bend  toward  Cyprus  green. 
Accosted  near  the  shore,  shorist  unkind 
Landing  deny  to  Lion-hearted  king. 
King  lion-Uke  gurleth  and  teeth  doth  grind, 
Threat'ning  revenge  with  a  Rhamnusian  sting, 
Vol.  I.  2  H  361 


/ 


362  NOTKS. 

Shore  re-attempteth,  and  shore  entereth  on  ; 

Shore  seized,  seizeth  island  victor-like. 

In  Mavors'  teen  setteth  islanders  on 

Some  slaughtering,  slaving  some,  revenger-like, 

And  so  by  Mavor's  sword  he  niasterizeth 

Isle  signiorized  by  Isaac  Cominen, 

Who  in  Byzantine's  name  isle  tyrannizeth ; 

Which  Isaac  falls  in  hands  of  Albion's  men, 

Enlarged,  yields  up  scepterage's  sway, 

To  the  swayer  of  tiie  ocean-clipped  isle ; 

So  Albion's  crownest  beareth  crown  away, 

Of  Cyprus'  crown  and  entereth  royal  file ; 

And  so  that  isle,  once  ennead-crowneted 

Falls  under  shelter  of  Tourlion's  shield. 

Isaac  released  and  by  king  favoured, 

Refalls  to  's  vomit,  'sturbing  Cyprus  field. 

But  soon  regorged  is  by  Albion  great. 

And  brought  unto  the  swinge  of  Albion's  lure. 

This  done,  there  hymenizeth  Berengaret, 

And  king  becomes  of  Great  Paphista's  ure. 

The  Paphian  diadem  resettled  thus, 

Richard,  retaking  seas,  arrives  at  camp, 

Refiling  camp  with  joys  of  joyful  use. 

His  rays  deceasing  fogs  of  foeman's  damp. 

Damme,  ■p.  169. 

The  work  from  which  this  town  derived  its  name  was  considered 
of  such  importance  in  that  age,  that  Dante  has  introduced  it  for  a 
simile  in  his  Inferno. 

Ora  cen*  porta  I'un  de'  duri  margini, 

E  '1  fumo  del  ruscel  di  sopra  aduggia 

Si,  che  dal  fuoco  salva  I'acqua,  e  gli  argini. 

Quale  i  Fiamminghi  tra  Guizzante  e  Bruggia 

Temendo  '1  fiott,  che  in  ver  lor  s'avventa, 

Fanno  lo  schermo,  perche  '1  mar  si  fuggia 

E  quale  i  Padovan,  lungo  la  Brenta, 

Per  difender  lor  ville  e  lor  castelli, 

Anzi  che  Chiarentana  il  caldo  senta : 

A  tale  imagine  eran  fatti  quelli, 

Tutto  che  ne  si  alti,  ne  si  grossi, 

Qual  che  si  fosse,  lo  maestro  fellL  Canto  xv. 

Cadsant  is  the  place  which,  niendose  et  typogvaphe  forte  incu- 
rid,  Ludovico  Guicciardini  says  Dante  has  called  Guiz2.<inte.   And 
this  has  misled  Mr.  Gary  in  his  admirable  translation : — 
One  of  the  solid  margins  bears  us  now 
Enveloped  in  the  midst,  that  fi-om  the  stream 


NOTES.  363 

Arising  hovers  o'er,  and  saves  from  fire 

Both  piers  and  water.     As  the  Flemings  rear 

Their  mound,  'twixt  Ghent  and  Bruges,  to  chase  back 

The  ocean,  fearing  his  tumultuous  tide 

That  drives  toward  them  ;  or  the  Paduans  theirs 

Along  the  Brenta,  to  defend  their  towns 

And  castles,  ere  the  general  warmth  be  felt 

On  Chiarentana's  top ;  such  were  the  mounds 

So  framed,  though  not  in  height  or  bulk  to  these 

Made  equal,  by  the  master,  whosoe'er 

He  was,  that  raised  them  here. 

Sluys,  p.  217. 

As  late  as  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  tlxis  was  call- 
ed the  Port  of  Flanders,  as  being  so  much  more  frequented  than 
any  other,  that  it  needed  no  other  distinction. 

"  Cum  enim  Flandrise  littus  iiuUis,  fluminum  ostiis  ad  oceanum 
nobile  sit,  portus  nuUos,  extra  sinus  quosdara  maris,  accipiendis 
classibus  idoneos  habet,  qui  et  ipsi  refluo  sequore  naves  plerumque 
in  siccum  destituunt.  Solum  illud  Slusa;  aquagium,  duplici  fossa 
contrariae  indolis,  et  ex  re  nominis,  olini,  ut  et  hodie,  optimam 
navigantibus  stationem  prsebuisse  videtur." — Eyndiua,  quoted  by 
Sanderus,  Flandria  Ulnstrata,  ii.  214. 

The  people  here  related  as  a  miracle  that,  in  the  year  1441, 
when  a  slight  duty  was  imposed  upon  the  muscle  fishery,  the 
muscles  disappeared,  but  became  as  abundant  as  before  when  the 
duty  was  taken  ofH  Sunt  enim  inopibus  obvium  alimentum. 
Marchantius  affirms  this,  and  Sanderus  after  him.  That  the  duty 
should  have  stopped  the  fishery  is  very  likely,  and  that  being  re- 
pealed, it  should  be  resumed  with  as  much  success  as  before  is  not 
at  ail  surprising. 

Fish  can  no  otherwise  be  affected  by  fiscal  regulations  than  as  the 
market  is  thereby  affected.  But  naval  war,  since  the  introduction 
of  gunpowder,  has  affected  the  lobsters :  after  a  great  naval  action 
the  fishermen  say  that  those  on  the  adjacent  coast  are  found  to 
have  cast  their  claws,  and  for  a  while  they  forsake  those  parts. 

Jeanne  de  Valois,  p.  226. 

Some  of  May's  best  verses  are  those  in  which  he  describes  this 
lady's  interference : — 

And  now  the  two  incensed  kings  are  met ; 

And  their  great  cause  on  one  day's  tryal  set, 

(As  all  believe),  all  expectations  near  '  ■* 

Are  drawn,  nor  have  they  time  to  hope  or  fear. 

The  armies  both  stand  ranged  in  fair  array  ; 

And  fierce  Bellona,  proud  of  such  a  day, 


364  NOTES. 

(As  if  it  lay  not  in  the  power  of  chance 

The  storm  to  scatter)  shakes  her  dreadful  lance ; 

For  like  two  high-swoln  seas  on  either  side, 

Whose  meeting  rage  no  isthmus  did  divide, 

But  winds,  that  from  contrary  quarters  blow, 

Together  drive,  the  two  battalions  show. 

But  that  eternal  God,  who  from  on  high 

Surveys  all  hosts,  disposes  victory 

(Called  thence  the  Lord  of  Hosts),  and  sets  the  times 

Of  war  or  peace,  as  sinful  nations'  crimes 

Provoke  his  justice,  did  not  think  it  good 

That  clouds  should  yet  dissolve  in  showers  of  blood  ; 

But  pleased  to  respite  for  a  time  the  woes 

Of  wretched  France  ;  and  for  this  purpose  chose 

An  instrument  whose  weakness  might  make  known 

The  power  that  reconciled  them  was  his  own. 

A  veiled  nun  alone  could  interpose 

And  stay  the  fury  of  these  armed  foes : 

Jane  de  Valois,  a  princely  lady,  near 

To  one  in  blood,  as  by  alliance  dear 

To  t'  other  mother  to  great  Edward's  queen 

And  Philip's  sister ;  who  of  late  had  been, 

Since  Hainault's  death,  at  Fontenelles  yow'd 

A  holy  nun.     She,  wakened  with  the  loud 

Alarms  of  this  so  great,  so  feared  a  blow, 

Her  quiet  cloister  had  forsaken  now. 

Amidst  their  armed  troops  her  way  she  took, 

And  through  the  rudest  breast  a  reverence  strook. 

Well  did  the  fame  of  her  chaste  life  before 

Become  the  sacred  habit  that  she  wore. 

Pure  innocence  her  snow-white  veil  profest. 

Her  black  a  sorrow  silently  exprest. 

Grave  was  her  comely  face ;  devotion 

On  beauty's  ruins  with  more  beauty  shone. 

Edward  the  Third,  lib.  iiL 

JVIaval  Council  in  Edward  III.'s  Reign,  A.  D.  1341,  p.  229. 
The  places  from  which  deputies  were  to  be  sent  to  this  council, 
and  the  number  of  representatives,  are  stated  as  follows : — 
MagnsB  Jememuth  de  duobus  hominibus. 
Goseford  de  duobus. 
Lenn'  de  duobus. 
Geppewicae  de  \mo. 
Winchelse  de  duobus. 
Dovorr*  de  uno. 
Rye  de  uno. 
Hastinges  de  uno. 


\ 


NOTES.  365 

Suthampton  de  duobus 

Plymouth  de  duobus. 

Dertmouth  dc  duobus 

Weymouth  de  uno. 

Bristol!  de  duobus. 

De  Sancto  Botulpho  dc  uno. 

Kingcston  super  Hull  de  duobus. 

De  Villa  Novi  Castre  super  Tynam  de  duobus. 

Falmuth  de  uno. 

Pevense  dc  uno. 

Scford  dc  uno. 

Shorham  de  uno. 

Hoke  de  uno. 

Pole  de  uno 

Exmuth  de  uno. 

Tcngcmuth  de  uno. 

Fowy  de  uno. 

Ravensere  de  uno. 

Parv-tB  Jernemuth  de  uno. 

Rymer,  ii.  p.  2.  1150. 

J\'aval  Council,  A.D.  1344,  p.  248. 

The  additional  ports  from  which  deputies  were  summoned  were 
these : — 

Scardeburgh  de  uno  homine. 

Grymesby  dc  uno. 

Donewico  dc  uno. 

Colccstr*  de  uno. 

Hcrcwico  de  uno. 

Orford  de  imo. 

Maldon  de  uno. 

Sandewico  de  duobus. 

Waynflct  dc  uno. 

Lyme  de  uno. 

Cicestr'  de  duobus- 

Portesmuth  dc  uno. 

Sancta  Elena  in  Insula  Vieta  de  uno. 

Melcombe  de  uno. 

Romeneye  de  uno. 

Exon'  de  duobus. 

Sidemuth  dc  uno. 

Barnastaplo  de  uno. 

Londoniaj  dc  quatuor.  • 

Blakcneye  dc   uno. 

The  ports  omitted  in  this  list,  but  included  in  the  earlier  one, 
are  the  two  Yarmouths,  Hoke,  Teigmnouth,  and  Fowev. 
2  u  2 


366  NOTKS. 

The  Question  is  -what  that  Poivder  was,  p.  258.  note. 

Mr.  Bree  finds  mention  among  the  stores  for  the  garrison  in 
Guernsey  Castle  (A.  D.  1339),  "  trentc  tonneaulx  de  jmmadre, 
cinquante  quintals  de  fcr,  deux  quintals  d'acier"  He  thought 
from  the  context  that  the  word  pomadre  might  mean  gunpowder; 
but  he  had  found  the  word  nowhere  else,  except  in  a  MS.  record, 
"  reciting  letters  of  pardon  to  several  persons  for  arrearages  of 
debt  due  to  the  king,  where,  in  one  granted  to  Thomas  de  Brock- 
hall,  pur  trente  et  deux  tonneaulx  de  pomadre,  des  qucux  il  est 
charge  de  son  account,  di  tems  que  il  cstoit  assigne  de  faire  d?%'ers 
purveyances  ad  opus  le  roi,  en  conte  de  Kent."  (pp.  136,  137.) 

This,  perhaps,  is  the  record  to  which  Barnes  refers;  but  the 
signification  of  the  word  is  altogether  doubtful ;  and  in  this  second 
instance  there  is  nothing  in  the  context  that  can  guide  us  to  it. 


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